4

Can someone tell me please what is the antonym of “bâcler son examen” as in answering the question “How did you do in your exam?”

  • Je l'ai bâclé (I did fast and poorly)

or

  • I did fast and very well, I nailed it

How do you say the latter in French?

I know about “j'ai bien fait”, “j'ai excellé” etc. but I'm looking specifically for the slang antonym of “bâclé/manqué”.

I know there is an antonym but I can't remember it anymore.

Improve this question
  • 8
    It seems you do not have the proper meaning for bâcler. A brilliant student can very well bâcler their exam (they find it very easy...) and pass it with flying colours. If you want to say you've failed it you'd use rater or manquer (slang se planter). Bâcler means "rush", "do without care", but not necessarily "fail" - whereas manquer means "fail". – None Jun 11 '16 at 6:44
  • 4
    By the way welcome to French Language. You can edit your question to clarify it. Are you asking about success in an exam (antonym of manquer) or about doing a job with great care (antonym of bâcler)? – None Jun 11 '16 at 6:49
  • I'm under the impression the question is fine once we replace all occurences of "bâcler" by "rater", and that this is what OP meant. I'm not editing because maybe there is something more about bâcler, as there indeed are antonyms specific to bâcler (torcher as in, do just as fast, but well). – Nikana Reklawyks Jun 12 '16 at 3:05
  • @NikanaReklawyks It's probably what OP meant and I told him so but 1) I think edits that change the meaning of the question has to be made by OPs (their responsibility) and 2) if we want the site to keep tidy and serious unclear questions should not be answered but closed until OPs have modified the question. 8 people agreed with my comment but still I was the only one to ask for a close vote. – None Jun 12 '16 at 7:00
  • Indeed I upvoted your comment and skipped the close vote review. I didn't feel comfortable voting to close a question that seemed so understandable to me. I agreed with 1. until I thought that if OP doesn't come back and edit the right thing in, I'd rather what is left be a good question that's not exactly what he meant, rather than an unclear closed question. (Anthony, do voice what you really meant if I was wrong.) – Nikana Reklawyks Jun 12 '16 at 17:59
3

If you want a slang term meaning you brilliantly succeed, you might say:

J'ai cartonné à mon examen.

This comes from "faire un carton" like at a shooting range in a fair.

Improve this answer
  • 1
    À votre avis, le sens est-il altéré si on enlève la préposition ? Merci. – user3177 Jun 11 '16 at 22:52
  • 1
    @SurvenantLazurite J'aurais d'abord pensé que l'expression ne se rencontre pas mais ayant trouvé quelques occurrences de « J'ai cartonné mon examen », le sens y est bien préservé. – jlliagre Jun 11 '16 at 23:05
3

"J'ai géré" is often my favorite translation for "I nailed it".

Note that in "J'ai géré", there is no reference to "examen" (the it in "I nailed it"). It would be "Je l'ai géré", you can say that but it's often omitted.

Don't forget that "gérer" means "to manage", "to run", "to handle", so of course it's not slang in some contexts.

Slang example :

  • Salut mec, t'as apporté de la bière ?
  • Ouais ! J'en ai apporté cinq packs !
  • Ouah ! T'as géré ! (or "Ouah ! Tu gères !")

Other example :

  • Comment s'est passé ton examen ?
  • Hum, je pense que j'ai géré, mais on verra !
Improve this answer
  • 2
    Bonus : "Tu gères la fougère !" that means absolutely nothing, the only reason is that it rhymes ("fougère" = "fern"). It is a well known expression, kinda fun. – Destal Jun 14 '16 at 10:09
2

Bâcler quelque chose means to do something sloppily, without giving it the required level of attention. In someone else's mouth, it's often a criticism implying shoddy results but the primary meaning is related to the level of effort, not the quality of the result.

To refer to the poor result for an exam, in the high register of speech you would say échouer, and in everyday language you would typically use planter, se planter, rater as in:

J'ai échoué à l'examen

J'ai planté mon bac

Je me suis planté dans la deuxième partie de l'examen

J'ai raté mon permis [driver's license exam]

For the particular case of an entrance exam you can also say être recalé.

To say the opposite, in the high register of speech you would say réussir. Popular antonyms to describe success would be torcher, cartonner, assurer, déchirer.

J'ai torché le bac

J'ai cartonné à l'épreuve orale

J'ai trop bien assuré dans la deuxième partie

J'ai déchiré les maths

These last four terms are slang, but torcher is borderline vulgar: the literal meaning is to wipe one's ass, the image behind this being that of someone blazing through the exam as if were toilet paper.

Some slang terms in use by scientific students:

  • majorer for "coming in with the highest score" (J'ai majoré l'épreuve de physique du concours)
  • trivialiser for "doing well and making it look easy"

(Thanks Random for déchirer !)

Improve this answer
  • What about "J'ai tout déchiré" ? :) – Random Jun 11 '16 at 13:44
  • Merci, ajouté ! – qoba Jun 11 '16 at 14:04
  • 2
    Torcher vous l'entendez comme dégommer ou comme battre ? Ironiquement il a aussi le sens de bâcler en plus. Merci. – user3177 Jun 11 '16 at 14:28
  • 2
    Oui c'est vrai que torcher peut aussi vouloir dire bâcler. Dans le cas d'un examen en temps limité, je l'entends plutôt avec le sens de "très bien réussir, en moins de temps qu'il n'en faut normalement." – qoba Jun 11 '16 at 14:51
  • Je ne connaissais pas ce sens influencé par l'anglais du mot torcher – qoba Jun 12 '16 at 3:51
1

It might be scientific prépas slang, but we used “torcher” to describe exactly that: doing fast and well. Of course, when talking about a full-length exam, in prépas it meant actually completing the copy or at least getting near, but you could vary well torcher a single question or exercise.

Improve this answer
1

en prenant le sens de bâcler = faire vite et mal,faire salement , le contraire est faire méticuleusement/sérieusement et bien.

  • assurer
  • peaufiner
  • blinder (familier)

Les autres termes qui ne font pas référence à ce concept vite/pas vite ne répondent pas exactement à la question: échouer/réussir, rater, louper, ...

Improve this answer
  • Vous êtes le seul à avoir exploré l'aspect méticuleux ; le verbe s'appliquer est aussi utile pour dire ça. Merci. – user3177 Jun 20 '16 at 20:27

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.