Emily in Paris: 8 French words Emily Cooper learned

Emily learns a lot of French in Emily in Paris

Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) gets a crash course in the language and the customs during Emily in Paris season 1.

Did you take French in either high school or college? Maybe both? I did. In fact, I almost minored in French in college I loved it so much. However, that was a long time ago so a lot of it has faded.

To help you figure out what certain words mean from Emily in Paris, we put together an unofficial Emily in Paris French 101 refresher on the basics as well as an introduction to some new words (including a couple of impolite ones).

Here are eight words and their meanings that were used most often or during some of the most memorable scenes.

1. Bonjour

Okay, this is a bit of a boring one. Even if you never took a French class I’m willing to bet you know “bonjour” means “hello.”

But in case you didn’t, now you do. Plus, I figured I’d start with an easy one and work our way up.

2. Enchante(e)

I’d forgotten “enchante” is the polite way to respond when you first meet someone. It literally means “enchanted” to meet you, but is also short for conveying “delighted to meet you” and “it’s such a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

And this is a good place to comment on something else Emily in Paris French 101 teaches us that we may take for granted or not know: French is a “gendered” language, meaning it qualifies things as masculine or feminine.

Enchante is one of those words when written out would be a single “E” on the end when a man says it, but two “Es” on the end when a woman does.

Emily’s handsome downstairs neighbor, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), uses it when the two first meet and it’s obvious a flustered Emily finds him enchanting indeed. No wonder he becomes her love interest.

3. Bon appetit

Another easy one you’ve likely heard or know even if you know no other French. Said when you serve food or before you dig to remind everyone to enjoy the meal. It literally means “good appetite.”

4. La Plouc

Oh boy. This is a not-so-nice word Emily learns.

Not that it’s bad, but it definitely has a negative connotation, which Emily figures out when her co-workers, Sylvie Grateau (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu), Julien (Samuel Arnold) and Luc (Bruno Gouery) use it.

They neither like nor respect her when she first arrives to Savoir, the marketing company where they all work. They take to calling her “la plouc,” which Julien tries to explain away as a term of endearment.

Emily, however, is no dummy. She has a feeling he’s lying, so she looks it up and discovers it’s an insult and means “the hick” or the “hillbilly.”

She doesn’t take the insult lying down, however, and finds a way to communicate to them what they can do with their term of endearment.

5. Merde

Emily both creates a ton of (inadvertently) and literally steps in a lot of (again, inadvertently) “merde” while working and living in Paris. It’s another way to say poop.

6. Ringarde

Speaking of “merde,” Emily’s first meeting with Haute Couture fictional fashion designer Pierre Cadeau (Jean-Christophe Bouve ) was a steaming pile of it when he took one look at her bag charm and cried out, “Ringarde!” Then he hustled away, disgusted, leaving Emily, Sylvie and Julien to flee, embarrassed and mortified.

Well, Sylvie and Julien were mortified. Emily was confused. What had happened? What had she done? What was “ringarde”?

Julien explains it means “basic,” which coming from someone like the great Pierre Cadeau is not just a stamp of disapproval but a complete dismissal and reason not to do business with Savoir.

Did Emily cost her firm a client or could she salvage such a bad first impression? She salvaged it, of course, with help from a super unlikely ally, Gossip Girl! (It’s totally unrealistic but so much fun and an example of why I found Emily in Paris good.)

7. Le vagin

This one isn’t so much about her learning the word as it is about learning how confusing gender qualifiers can be.

You know how I mentioned French is a gendered language under the “enchante” definition? Emily gets schooled in gender distinctions in episode 2, aptly titled “Masculin Feminin.”

Sylvie puts Emily to work promoting a product for menopausal women called Vaga-Jeune. That’s when Emily notices the French word for a part of the female anatomy is qualified as masculine (“le” instead of “la”).

Emily posts on her Instagram that this part of the female anatomy is not masculine, which Brigitte Macron, the French President’s wife, finds amusing and retweets, to the delight of Vaga-Jeune’s CEO. This results in a professional win for Emily and starts to help her co-workers see her humor, creativity and potential worth.

8. Le preservatif

There are a lot of funny scenes and chances for Emily to get French lessons, but the time Emily mistakenly orders a side of “la preservatif” for her croissant, thinking it’s preservatives, has to be one of the funniest.

Mostly due to her BFF on the show, Mindy (Ashley Park), explaining that “le preservatif” means… well not that.” The waiter took offense and told her if she wanted a side of that, she could help herself to those in the bathroom.

The “le preservatif” scene

If you want a chuckle, check out this scene. I embedded it from the @emilyinparis Instagram account. If you haven’t watched the series, it’s a good sample of what to expect.

If you’re like me and loved the series, it’s a fun refresher.

Bon appetit!

We hope Emily in Paris season 2 is in the works at Netflix! Stay tuned for more news about the new Netflix show.