How to Say 'F*** You' in French: Inside the Brutal Diplomatic Snub and French Slang Secrets

Improve your knowledge of how to Say 'F*** You' in French: Inside the Brutal Diplomatic Snub and French Slang Secrets using our easy-to-follow guidelines.

The direct semantic counterpart to "fuck you" in continental France is va te faire foutre. The verb foutre has ancient roots, descending from the Latin futuere, meaning to copulate. Over centuries, it entered common French parlance as a crude multipurpose verb, functioning similarly to "fuck" or "do" in phrases like qu'est-ce que tu fous? (what the fuck are you doing?).

When constructed as va te faire foutre, the phrase translates literally to "go get yourself fucked." It is explicitly hostile. You do not utter this in polite company, around elders, or in a professional French workplace unless you want an HR escalation or a physical confrontation.

For slightly softer dismissals that mirror the English "go screw yourself" or "get lost," speakers frequently pivot to milder colloquial French expressions:

• Va te faire voir: Literally "go get yourself seen," this carries the weight of "get lost" without anatomical obscenity.
• Va chier: Translating to "go take a shit," this phrase matches the crude dismissiveness of telling someone to fuck off, sitting just below va te faire foutre on the vulgarity scale.
• Dégage: A sharp, clipped command meaning "clear out" or "get out of my face."