What does “kiffer” mean in French?
Une journée à Nice avec des amis calédoniens
B1 French listening practice · French from France · Picked for people who know some
Touring Nice, the vlogger signs off with “je kiffe faire des petits trucs comme ça,” “I love doing little things like this.” Kiffer means to love or really enjoy something. It came into French through banlieue slang from Arabic kif (pleasure) and is now everywhere in casual speech: je te kiffe (I’m into you), je kiffe trop ce son (I love this track).
The clip is a feast of spoken French. Listen for ouf (that’s fou, “crazy,” flipped in verlan slang: “des trucs de ouf”) and se gaver (to stuff yourself: “on s’est gavé”). All this over a Niçois food crawl of socca and pan-bagnat. Learn kiffer and you sound instantly more native.
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In everyday spoken French among young people
- ▸In French rap and pop lyrics
- ▸On French social media and vlogs
- ▸Alongside verlan slang like ouf (fou) and relou (lourd)
- ▸Any time a French speaker really likes something: “je kiffe!”