“My bad!” in French - 3 Ways to translate it!

By reaching a certain level in a language, you start learning expressions. These expressions don’t really have a perfect translation. This is why you need to convey the idea. See this happen here with the expression “My bad!”.

3 different ways to say “my bad” in French.

To start with, when do we use the expression “My bad!”?  We say it when we want to apologize for our behaviour. Basically, there are 3 main ways to say it in French:

• Au temps pour moi

• Autant pour moi

• Je me suis trompé (e)

Let's take each one in turn:

2 French expressions with the same pronunciation.

Let’s distinguish 2 expressions that sound exactly the same. Only the spelling indicates they are different.

1. Autant pour moi
2. Au temps pour moi

Indeed, “autant” and “au temps” share the same pronunciation. 

By the way, there’s a lesson about the word “autant” in case you want to learn more about it.

As far as the “au temps” expression is concerned, it refers to a military origin. “Au temps” means “back to the time (of)”.

But, there’s no need to worry about the spelling anyway because these are more expressions you use when you talk, rather than write! Both are officially accepted, so make your choice!

How to say I made a mistake in French.

Finally, there’s another option to translate “My bad!” in French and it’s with a reflexive verb. Indeed, you’ll conjugate the French verb “se tromper” meaning to make a mistake.

Let’s review its conjugation using the present tense:

• je me trompe
• tu te trompes
• il / elle se trompe
• nous nous trompons
• vous vous trompez
• ils / elles se trompent

And for the passé composé, you’ll obtain this:

• je me suis trompé (e)
• tu t’es trompé (e)
• il / elle s’est trompé (e)
• nous nous sommes trompé (e) s
• vous vous êtes trompez
• ils / elles se sont trompé (e) s

The expression “my bad!” with 3 French variations.

So, here you go! You have 3 ways or to be exact, 2 ways since 2 of them are identically pronounced:

• Au temps pour moi >>> My bad

• Autant pour moi >>> My bad

• Je me suis trompé (e) >>> I made a mistake

I really hope this lesson was clear and that you feel ready to use them. If you still wonder how to use them, “my bad!”, reach out and I will explain in other words for you.