What does “lâcher l’affaire” mean in French?
La logique de l'école vs la vraie vie
B1 French listening practice · French from France · Picked for people who know some
Lâcher l’affaire means to give up, to stop trying. Lâcher is “to let go of” and l’affaire is “the matter,” so you’re letting the whole thing drop. J’ai lâché l’affaire is “I gave up.” Said to someone else, lâche l’affaire ! means “drop it” or “let it go.” It’s casual and very common among younger speakers.
The neutral equivalent is laisser tomber (“let fall”), and abandonner is the formal one. In this sketch the comedian says his maths career ended at 2 × 2 = 4: j’ai lâché l’affaire. He follows it with c’est quoi ce délire ?, “what is this nonsense?”, and a rant about multiplying bananas you don’t have.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this B1 French listening practice video?
How common in written French
How common in spoken French
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.