In English, if we want to show that this sound is drawn out, we add additional h‘s to it. Human soundsĬhut – Shhh (sound to make a person be quiet). And here’s another list that mainly focuses on French animal sound verbs, which we’ll discuss further on, but it does include some animal onomatopoeia as well. Want to know how other animals sound in French? Check out this list. Roucoul/ rou-cou/ rou-rou – coo (the sound a pigeon makes – clearly the French version is much closer to what a pigeon actually sounds like!) The French equivalent of the Tooth Fairy is even La Petite Souris (the Little Mouse).But it’s hard to find the equivalent of “squeak” on lists of French animal sounds for some reason. Rats and mice are quite common in France (in fact, Paris itself is currently experiencing an explosion in its rat population).

French animal soundsĬocorico – cock-a-doodle-doo – The sound French roosters make.Ĭui-cui – tweet (If you’re not talking about the animal sound, but about posting on Twitter, the French keep this in English: tweet)Ĭouic – squeak. Here are some common French onomatopoeias…and I’ve added some of my personal favorites, as well.

But if you want to learn some French interjections, you can start with this list of typical ones. That’s why you won’t find them on our list. Some lists of French onomatopoeias include interjections like Youpi ! (Yippee!). Strictly speaking, though, words aren’t considered onomatopoeia, since they’re not just sounds.

human sounds (sounds made with our mouths or bodies, but not calculated words).

French animal sounds (including the equivalents of moo, meow and oink).

You can group most of them into three main categories: Like just about any language, French has a lot of onomatopoeias. The words “onomatopoeia” and onomatopée ultimately come from Greek: “onoma” means “name” and “poiein” means “to make”. As you might have guessed from the double “e” ending, this word is feminine. Luckily, it’s a bit simpler to say and write “onomatopoeia” in French: onomatopée. Fortunately, learning and using them can be pretty fun! How do you say “onomatopoeia” in French?Īlthough most onomatopoeias are easy to spell, the word “onomatopoeia” obviously isn’t. On the other hand, since there’s no particular logic to onomatopoeias, you’ll have to memorize them for each language you learn. It’s funny that such simple, universal words are so mysterious. None of these theories have been indisputably proven, though. This could be due to the fact that in Anglophone cultures, dogs are extremely popular pets. A popular way to illustrate this theory is that in English, there are quite a lot of options to show the sound a dog makes. When it comes to one kind of onomatopoeia, animal sounds, linguists point to the fact that certain animals are more important in some cultures than others. And since there are certain sounds that exist in some languages and not in others, some onomatopoeias simply can’t be written the same way across the board. Some of it might have to do with a sort of preference for certain sounds in a given language. No one can really say why they’re (usually) different in each language. Beyond comics: Other famous French onomatopoeia appearances Why are there French onomatopoeias?

Quick word otamotapea