Is there a phrase or term in French that have the same meaning as “go to hell”?
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6"Aller au diable"? But are you looking for different ways to say "screw you" in French (thing that are not taught in class), or the best etymologically speaking translation?– LarmeCommented Jan 25, 2016 at 13:23
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1"Va au diable". But as mentionned by Larme, you may be looking for a less "direct" translation, cause this one is not that used nowadays...– Laurent S.Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 13:46
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1related: french.stackexchange.com/questions/9281/…– jlliagreCommented Jan 25, 2016 at 13:50
6 Answers
"Va te faire foutre" is the colloquial equivalent. The other translations given are too literal and much stronger than the intended meaning in English.
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2It's rather equivalent to "screw you", "go to hell" is less aggressive.– LimoCommented Jan 29, 2016 at 14:10
Littéralement:
Va au diable !
Avec un sens plus fort, plus imagé, voire artistique ou mélodramatique, un peu théâtral :
Va en enfer, Brûle en enfer !
Plus simple et direct dans le même sens:
Disparais !
familier:
Fiche-moi la paix (avec ça) !
Il y en a toute une série d'autres beaucoup moins correctes avec le lien déjà mentionné: Comment dire « go take a flying leap » en français ?
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Pour moi, littéralement cela signifie : "Va en enfer" ou alors "Brûle en enfer".– KiiCommented Jan 27, 2016 at 12:18
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As other comments say, "Va au diable !" (when talking to a single person) is an old way to say it.
There are plenty of other ways to say it more rudely. A more recent version and still "formal" would be
Va te faire cuire un oeuf.
And more usual :
Va te faire voir
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+1, not only for the first expression as it relates to cooking (and therefore to the heat normally associated with Hell), but also for both of your suggestions, for they are both often used to translate the seemingly less rude “Go [and] jump in a/the lake,” which is, however, not much less rude at all because it’s merely a euphemism for “Go to Hell” itself according to WikiAnswers (i.e., lake=lake of fire//go jump in a/the lake of fire=go to hell). Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 18:23
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@PapaPoule Thanks for the link, I didn't know for the link between lake &lake of fire !– LimoCommented Jan 28, 2016 at 8:16
CRNTL, you have the choice :
Someone :
Allez au diable !
or :
Va au diable !
Someone's argument :
Va au diable avec tes histoires !
Something :
Au diable tout cela !
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La troisième est un peu différente, et signifie qu'on s'en moque (de tout cela). Les 2 premières expriment mieux le terme anglais. Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 18:49
Va/Allez au diable
is a great translation for
Go to hell
but that's not something people usually say. People are more likely to use
Va/Allez chier !
which literally means
go take a shit!
With the exception of "aller au diable"/au diable!", some of the suggestions above, while definitely used in modern French, are not appropriate translations for "Go to hell" because they are much more vulgar (even though a high level of vulgarity has become quite common in every day language). "Go to hell", while not polite, is fairly tame these days, so the following expressions are not appropriate equivalents when translating: XXX - "Va te faire foutre"="Go fuck yourself/Go get yourself fucked" XXX - "Va/Allez chier != Go take a shit" ...................... These other suggestions are similar in register:
- Fiche-moi la paix
- aller se faire cuire un œuf/Va te faire cuire un œuf. [We do say in English: "Go suck an egg" or "Go teach your grandmother how to suck eggs"]
- aller se faire voir (ailleurs) /Va te faire voir (ailleurs)
See more expressions here: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/aller_se_faire_voir
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1Pour toi, « aller au diable » serait plus vulgaire que « vas te faire voir » ????– TotoCommented Aug 24, 2021 at 16:48
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1This answer doesn't show a very good grasp of the language, neither in French nor in English. As said in Toto's comment vas-te faire voir is vulgar and lots of people avoid using it because of the homophobic connotation. Moreover this answer doesn't add anything positive to the previous evaluated answers.– NoneCommented Aug 25, 2021 at 10:56