What are French equivalents to the English “um”, “so”, “uh”, etc.?

Question

I'm talking about Speech disfluency or hesitations in speech while your brain is still thinking about what to say. “Um, er, uh, so, yeah, you know, like, etc.”

In French, how are these expressed? What are some common filler phrases attached to the beginning of sentences that are simply said while the person is still piecing together a coherent thought?

Answer 1

• Euh
• Hmmm, hum
• Eh bien (sometimes spelled et bien) and relatives: eh ben, ben, bah, and especially in the south eh beh (pronounced é bé),
• Tu vois (may be phonetically contracted in tvois)
• Tu sais (may be phonetically contracted in tsé)
• Enfin
• Quoi as a postfix
• Any combination of the above : for instance, a whole sentence with only these (that may actually be uttered) : euh, bah tu sais, ben enfin tu vois quoi

Answer 2

“mmm”, “tu vois” and “en fait” are the most used currently.

Answer 3

Euh and ben (I've also seen it spelled bun; etymologically related to bien).

Answer 4

I use hum. Sometimes hum hum.

Answer 5

On top of the answers already listed on this page, we also say Alors ! in certain circumstances:

— Ca s'est bien passé ton examen ?
— Alors ! Oui, au début, mais lorsqu'ils ont commencé à me poser des questions [...]

Or also:

— Que pensez-vous de ce projet ?
— Alors ! L'idée est séduisante, c'est certain. Je me demande juste si nous avons les fonds nécessaires.

I'd say this is an equivalent of Well!.

Answer 6

In Québécois French it's pretty common for people to say "umm" just like in English.