The French Verb Foutre

How to use the verb foutre

Foutre and its synonym fiche are very common verbs in informal French and slang. Learn how to understand and use them, with free audio recording.

    

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French verb foutre

This slang verb has several meanings in French: to put, to give, to do, etc. It is conjugated thus: fous - fous - fout - foutons - foutez - foutent. The pronominal verb s'en foutre means to not care, while the adjective foutu(e) usually means screwed/screwed up. Fiche is a milder verb that is very common too. It is conjugated: fiche - fiches - fiche - fichons - fichez - fichent and the past participle is fichu(e).

Je m'en fous / Je m'en fiche. I don't care.

Qu'est-ce qu'il fout là-bas ? What's he doing over there? / What the hell is he doing over there??

J'en ai rien à foutre. I don't care. [stronger] / I don't give a damn.

Je m'en fous de tes problèmes. I don't care about your problems.
Tu t'en fous de ce que les autres pensent. You don't care about what others think.
On s'en fout de foot ! We don't care about soccer!
Ils s'en foutent des jeunes. They don't care about young people.

Fous-moi la paix ! Leave me alone! / Give me a break!
Fous le camp ! F you!
Va te faire foutre ! Go to hell!

The adjective foutu does not always have a negative connotation, however:
un mec bien foutu a well-built/muscular guy

For more on the verb foutre, read my blog post on Swearing in French and Degrees of Vulgarity.

 

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