There is a category of words in spoken French that you will not find on a vocabulary list and that no textbook quite knows what to do with. They are the connective tissue of conversation: bon, alors, ben, quoi, euh, enfin, bref, en fait, du coup, j'avoue. Translated literally they are "good," "so," "well," "what," "uh," "finally," "brief," "in fact," "the blow," "I confess" — and translated literally they are nonsense. What they actually do is mark turns, signal hesitation, soften assertions, manage transitions, and tell your interlocutor where you are in your thinking. Without them, your French is grammatically perfect and conversationally robotic. With them, you sound like a person. This page covers the core set: what each marker does, where it sits, and how to deploy it without overshooting register.
Bon — opening, transitioning, wrapping up
Bon is the all-purpose transition marker. It can open a turn, close a topic, or signal that the speaker is ready to move on.
Bon, on y va ?
OK, shall we go?
Bon, je vais y réfléchir.
Right, I'll think about it.
Bon, c'est pas grave.
Well, no big deal.
Bon, où est-ce que j'en étais ?
OK, where was I?
The literal meaning ("good") is more or less gone. Bon signals: I'm taking the floor or I'm wrapping up this thought. It pairs with alors and eh bien to form longer turn-openers (Bon alors..., Bon ben...). (neutral) in register; appropriate in any context.
Alors — "so," "then," sequencing
Alors sequences ideas and signals consequence. It overlaps with English "so" and "then."
Alors, qu'est-ce qu'on fait maintenant ?
So, what do we do now?
Alors, je suis parti à six heures, j'ai pris le métro...
So, I left at six, took the metro...
— Tu as fini ? — Alors, presque.
— Are you done? — Well, almost.
Et alors ?
So what? / And then? / What happened next?
The fixed phrase et alors ? is two completely different things depending on tone. With rising tone it means "and then? what next?" — invitation to continue. With flat or falling tone and a slight edge it means "so what? what's your point?" — confrontation. The same two letters, two universes apart.
Ben — "well," informal hesitation
Ben is the spoken-French descendant of eh bien, contracted and softened. It marks a slight pause, an obvious-answer flag, or an apologetic hedge.
— Tu viens ? — Ben oui, bien sûr.
— Are you coming? — Well yes, of course.
Ben, je sais pas, moi.
Well, I don't know.
Ben non !
Well no! / Of course not!
Ben quoi ? J'ai rien fait.
What? I didn't do anything.
Ben oui / ben non is heavy with implication: it answers a yes-no question while signaling that the answer should have been obvious. (informal), frequent in family and friend conversation, rare in professional settings.
Quoi — sentence-final filler
This is the quoi that is not a question word — it sits at the end of a sentence and signals "you know what I mean" or "anyway." It's one of the most distinctive features of casual spoken French.
C'est compliqué, quoi.
It's complicated, you know.
Il est sympa, mais bizarre, quoi.
He's nice, but weird, you know what I mean.
J'ai pas envie d'y aller, quoi.
I just don't feel like going, basically.
Bref, c'est nul, quoi.
Anyway, it's lame, you know.
This sentence-final quoi should not be confused with the question Quoi ? (informal "What?"). They differ entirely in tone, position, and function. (informal); overuse is a stylistic tic that French speakers themselves mock — but moderate use makes you sound natural.
Euh — pure hesitation
Euh is the French "um." It marks pause-while-thinking and is heard hundreds of times a day.
C'était... euh... mardi, je crois.
It was... um... Tuesday, I think.
Euh, je vais réfléchir.
Um, I'll think about it.
Comment ça s'appelle... euh... un croissant aux amandes !
What's it called... uh... an almond croissant!
Pronounced /ø/, with rounded lips — not the English /ʌm/. Getting the euh sound right is one of those subtle markers of pronunciation fluency.
Enfin — "anyway," "I mean," self-correcting
Enfin is etymologically "finally" — and it does still mean that in a literal sense. But in conversation, enfin is overwhelmingly a self-correction marker: "I mean," "well," "or rather."
Il est arrivé, enfin, presque.
He arrived — well, almost.
C'est pas mal, enfin, je trouve.
It's not bad — at least, I think so.
Enfin, on verra bien.
Anyway, we'll see.
Enfin bon, c'est pas grave.
Well anyway, it's not a big deal.
The cluster enfin bon is a common turn-closer: "well anyway, moving on." Enfin alone preceded by silence is also a frustrated "finally!" — Ah, enfin ! ("There you are!"). Tone disambiguates.
Bref — "in short"
Bref wraps up — signals that the speaker is summarizing or moving on.
Bref, c'est fini.
In short, it's over.
Bref, j'ai loupé le train.
Long story short, I missed the train.
Bref, on s'en fiche.
Anyway, who cares.
Bref is so frequent it has become a turn-shortcut on its own: a speaker uttering bref mid-story signals "and the rest doesn't matter, here's the point." (neutral), appropriate in casual and semi-formal speech.
Tu sais and tu vois — phatic checks
Tu sais ("you know") and tu vois ("you see") are filler-checks that maintain the listener's engagement. They function exactly like English "you know" / "you see."
C'était, tu sais, vraiment difficile.
It was, you know, really hard.
Et là, tu vois, il s'est mis à pleurer.
And there, you see, he started crying.
Je l'ai dit, tu sais, parce que ça m'énervait.
I said it, you know, because it was annoying me.
In formal register, switch to vous savez / vous voyez. (informal) with tu; (neutral / formal) with vous.
En fait — "actually," correcting course
En fait introduces a clarification or correction. It signals "let me give you the real picture."
En fait, je n'aime pas le café.
Actually, I don't like coffee.
— Tu es français ? — Non, en fait, je suis belge.
— Are you French? — No, actually I'm Belgian.
En fait, ça m'arrange bien.
Actually, it works well for me.
En fait is one of the most overused fillers among young French speakers — to the point of self-parody. It pairs with du coup in stereotype caricatures of millennial speech: en fait, du coup, je sais pas...
Du coup — "so," "as a result"
Du coup started as a colloquial connector meaning "as a result," but has expanded into an almost-meaningless filler in much of contemporary French. Style guides decry the spread; speakers don't care.
Il pleuvait, du coup on est restés à la maison.
It was raining, so we stayed home.
Du coup, j'y vais ou pas ?
So, am I going or not?
Du coup, qu'est-ce que tu en penses ?
So what do you think?
In its productive use (il pleuvait, du coup on est restés) it cleanly means "so / therefore." In its filler use (du coup, j'y vais...) it has bleached almost entirely into a turn-opener — equivalent to a redundant "so" in English. (informal), very common with under-40 speakers, slightly mocked by older generations.
Par contre — "on the other hand"
Par contre is the spoken counterpart of en revanche. It signals balanced contrast.
Le restaurant est cher. Par contre, c'est délicieux.
The restaurant is expensive. On the other hand, it's delicious.
Je n'aime pas le rouge ; par contre, j'adore le blanc.
I don't like reds; on the other hand, I love whites.
Par contre, j'ai pas de monnaie.
By the way, I don't have any change. (= a counter-point to add)
Older grammarians condemn par contre and prescribe en revanche. The vast majority of French speakers ignore them. In writing or formal speech, en revanche still feels safer; in casual speech, par contre is everywhere.
J'avoue — "I admit," "yeah"
J'avoue (literally "I confess") has become a high-frequency conversational acknowledgment marker among under-40 speakers. It signals agreement, sometimes mild and sometimes emphatic.
— C'est pas terrible, ce film. — Ouais, j'avoue.
— This movie isn't great. — Yeah, agreed.
J'avoue, j'ai pas beaucoup étudié.
Yeah, I admit I didn't study much.
J'avoue que c'est bizarre.
I do admit that's weird.
This use of j'avoue as standalone agreement is quite recent (post-2010 in widespread use) and is (informal, register: youth). With older speakers, plain oui or c'est vrai feels safer.
Disons que — "let's say," softening
Disons que introduces a hedged formulation — "let's just say" or "I'd say."
Disons que c'est compliqué.
Let's just say it's complicated.
Disons qu'il a pas vraiment été honnête.
Let's just say he wasn't exactly honest.
C'est, disons, un peu cher.
It's, let's say, a bit expensive.
It signals delicacy — the speaker is choosing their words carefully and inviting the listener to read between the lines.
Un peu comme — "sort of like"
Un peu comme introduces an analogy or hedged comparison.
C'est un peu comme un croissant, mais avec des amandes.
It's sort of like a croissant, but with almonds.
Il est un peu comme son père.
He's sort of like his father.
C'est un peu comme si on était en vacances.
It's kind of like we're on vacation.
A useful hedging device when you're approximating rather than asserting.
Common Mistakes
❌ J'utilise 'quoi' au début de la phrase pour dire 'what?'
Confusing — sentence-final 'quoi' is a filler ('you know'); sentence-initial 'Quoi ?' is the abrupt question 'What?'
✅ C'est compliqué, quoi. (filler) / Quoi ? Tu peux répéter ? (informal question)
It's complicated, you know. / What? Can you repeat?
❌ Bien, on y va. (interpreting 'bon' as 'bien')
Confusing — the conversational opener is 'bon,' not 'bien.' 'Bien' is an adverb meaning 'well' (in the manner-of-doing sense).
✅ Bon, on y va.
OK, let's go.
❌ Sans doute qu'il viendra. (read as 'definitely')
Misleading — sans doute means 'probably,' not 'undoubtedly.' Use sans aucun doute for absolute certainty.
✅ Sans aucun doute, il viendra.
Without any doubt, he'll come.
❌ Tu sais... vous savez... (mixing tu and vous fillers)
Incorrect — pick a register and stay in it. Filler tag must match the rest of your speech.
✅ Tu sais, c'est compliqué. / Vous savez, c'est compliqué.
You know, it's complicated. (informal / formal)
❌ Du coup, du coup, du coup. (overusing as filler)
Stylistic — saying 'du coup' every sentence sounds like millennial-speech parody.
✅ Il pleuvait, du coup on est restés.
It was raining, so we stayed. (productive use)
Key Takeaways
The fillers and discourse markers of spoken French are not optional — they are the architecture of conversation. Bon and alors open and sequence; ben hesitates informally; euh is the pure pause; enfin self-corrects; bref wraps up; quoi tags the end of a thought; en fait corrects course; du coup signals consequence (or, in its filler use, just opens a turn); par contre contrasts; j'avoue agrees; disons que and un peu comme hedge. Tu sais and tu vois maintain phatic contact. Master a few of these — bon, alors, enfin, en fait, quoi at minimum — and your spoken French immediately stops sounding rehearsed. Overuse any of them and you become a parody. The middle path: deploy them where they earn their keep, and let your interlocutor's ear tell you when you've found the rhythm.
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- Phrases avec Marqueurs DiscursifsB2 — Discourse markers — alors, donc, bon, eh bien, en fait, du coup, bref, par contre — are the small connective words that organize French speech and writing. They signal transitions, hedge claims, structure arguments, and texture conversations. Mastering them is the single biggest step a learner can take toward sounding fluent.
- Eh Bien, En Fait: nuanceB1 — The discourse markers French speakers use to introduce nuance, correction, and contrast: eh bien (well), en fait (actually), à vrai dire (truth be told), en réalité (in reality). Each carries a different shade of disagreement or clarification.
- C'est-à-dire, Autrement Dit: clarificationB1 — Five French markers introduce a clarification or restatement — c'est-à-dire (i.e., that is to say), autrement dit (in other words), en d'autres termes (in other terms), soit (literary), à savoir (namely). Each restates what came before in a slightly different way.
- Gestion du Sujet: dislocation et cleftingB2 — How French speakers steer conversation — introducing new topics with au fait and à propos, returning with pour revenir à, postponing, avoiding, concluding with bref or au final, inviting more with et toi, and the polite interruption formulas.
- Mise en Relief et ContrasteB2 — How French speakers signal emphasis and contrast in conversation — clefting with c'est...qui/que, dislocation, intensifiers, the contrastive connectors mais/cependant/pourtant/en revanche, and the formal concession structures with bien que and malgré.