“Foutre” is a very interesting French verb. It is actually an irregular third group conjugation verb with a past participle in “foutu”. It has a complete set of conjugations.
It is colloquial without being necessarily vulgar, depending on the context. I heard it routinely used by teachers, doctors, work colleagues. Not yet politicians, but who knows what’s coming. Avoid it in formal contexts, but if you manage to use it properly as a foreigner, you will sure create complicity!
The etymology of “foutre” is unclear, but the verb has an impressive range of meanings.
It can mean “do”.
Qu’est-ce tu fous ? What are you doing?
It can mean “put”
Fous-moi ça dehors! Put this outside!
It is very widely used in the reflexive form “se foutre de”.
Which means “not caring”, or “kidding”, “mocking”, “bullshitting”.
Je m’en fous. I don’t care
A Piaf song song went “J’m’en fous pas mal”, which would be “I couldn’t care less”. This indicates that even back then, it was familiar but not obscene. Until after WW2, it was more convenient for respectable people to use the verb “ficher” instead.
Tu te fous de moi? Are you kidding me?
It is often used with “gueule” (face, guts) as in “il se fout de ma gueule” : he’s bullshitting me, kidding me. “Se foutre du monde” is hard to translate, roughly taking people for idiots. Both can be combined in “se foutre de la gueule du monde”.
“Foutre en l’air” means to waste, to fuck up.
“Se foutre en l’air” is committing suicide.
“Foutre la paix” : leave (someone) alone, in peace
“Foutre à la porte” : throw (someone) out
“Foutre le camp” : get away
“Foutre le bordel, la merde” : wreak havoc, mess up
“Foutre les jetons” : scare
A complete list would be impossible to make, as it can be combined with almost anything.
“Foutre” is vulgar when used with sexual connotations. “Se faire foutre” is getting buggered, so “va te faire foutre!” is basically “go fuck yourself”. Friends may use to joke among themselves, but it’s preferable to be used with caution. Also, “foutre” as a noun is a coarse name for sperm.
There are a vast number of number of words that have been built around the root “foutre”.
“Je m’en fous” can be emphasized by “je m’en contrefous”.
(But the verb “se contrefoutre de” has no other use).
“J’en ai rien à foutre”, often abridged in “rien à foutre”, is punchier
“Foutu” means lost, wasted.
“La journée est foutue” : it was a wasted day.
“Bien foutu” is well done.
In case of a person, it means sexy.
“Foutu de” can mean “able to”, whereas “unable to” becomes “pas foutu de”, or even better, ”infoutu de”.
“le foutoir” means a mess.
“Foutage “ can be heard in “du foutage de gueule” : bullshit, rip-off, fraud. Some old fashioned expressions are “foutaise” (rubbish), a “jeanfoutre” or a “foutriquet”(an incompetent person), comically archaic today.
“Foutre” and all its cognates and conjugated forms are valid at the scrabble.
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