Quand ton enfant lance son caca sur le mur
A2 French listening practice · French · Curated for beginners
What does “bêtise” mean in French?
Une bêtise is built on bête (“stupid”, also “animal”) but it lands much more gently than that. Applied to a child it means mischief: something silly rather than wicked. Faire une bêtise is knocking the paint over; ne fais pas de bêtises is the line called after a kid leaving the room. It covers roughly the ground English gives to “that was naughty”.
Said of an adult the word hardens — faire une bêtise can mean acting recklessly — and dire des bêtises shifts to talking nonsense. In this clip a parent reaches for it after a toddler throws something at the wall: c’est une bêtise. Note how the reproach is framed impersonally — on ne jette pas..., “one doesn’t throw...” — which is how French adults often state a rule to a child rather than pointing at them with tu.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.