How to say not right in French

What if things just aren’t right and you need to express that clearly?

We’re so busy learning French that we tend to stick to the positive and are always compliant. 

Have you just learnt to keep your opposition to yourself?  

Today, in this mini-lesson, you will learn:

• How to say things aren’t right
• Idiomatic ways of saying things aren’t right
• Ways to get instant recall when learning French

Learn how to say “what’s up” in French.

If you wish to ask someone how they are, you have several (fun) options to choose from. All of them are rather informal where you would even omit some parts.

Let’s have a look at them:

• Qu’est-ce qui ne va pas ? >>> What’s not going well? 
• Pourquoi cette tête ? >>> Why the long face? 
• Mais qu’est-ce que tu as / t’as ? >>> What’s up with you? 
• Qu’est-ce qui(l) y a ? >>> What’s wrong? 

No need to learn all of them. Instead, choose your favorite and add one only if you have mastered the previous ones.

 When your tone makes all the difference. 

Do you remember how to ask questions in French? As a reminder, there are 3 different ways to do it.

If you feel you need to review questions in French, feel free to read this mini-lesson:

Question words in French

Why am I telling you this? The reason is that tone matters and it is exactly the same here with this sentence:

• Ça (ne) va pas ? >>> You’re not feeling well? 

Here, if you’ve got a rising tone for a question, it implies you are worried about the person.

• Ça (ne) va pas (la tête) ! >>> Are you crazy?

Because of the tone, we know you disagree with the person in this situation.

Therefore, be sure to have the proper intonation according to what you want to express: concern or shock with disagreement.

How to express your concern in French

This time, you are not asking directly to the person if something is wrong. Instead, you are expressing your concern because you see or can feel that something is off.

Once more, the following expressions are informal and we ditch some letters or words:

• I(l) y a quelque chose qui (ne) va pas >>> There’s something wrong 

And its shorter version:

• Quelque chose (ne) va pas >>> Something’s not right.

Please note that in various expressions you have seen, the main verb is aller (to go) and they are idiomatic expressions. In other words, if you try to translate word for word, it won’t make sense!

2 Fun French expressions which can’t be translated.

With the same idea that you can’t translate sentences but the meaning, here are 2 fun expressions French people commonly say:

• Ça sonne >>> It’s ringing (something is off)
• Ça cloche >>> It’s cross-eyed (something is off)

So, ignore the translation and employ them when your intuition tells you that something is wrong or off.

Discover how to say “something is wrong” in French. 

Let’s add other expressions that are similar to the previous ones meaning that something is wrong:

• Quelque chose n’est pas correct >>> Something is not right.
• Quelque chose est faux >>> Something is wrong.

And their more familiar and shorter versions are:

• C’est pas correct >>> Something is not right.
• C’est faux, (ça) >>> Something is wrong.

How do you remember your vocabulary?

I admit: you have seen a great number of expressions and you may wondering how to memorise as many as possible.

Here are some of my tips for you:

• Make your learning fun with reminders, notes…
• Challenge your brain and change your reminders, visuals…
• Be patient since it takes 21 days to make a habit natural
• Have instant feedback from a partner to challenge you as well
• Don’t learn mistakes by having your creative work checked 

I hope that everything is right now and your brain is clear about this topic. If you feel you don’t grasp the whole meaning of some expressions, ask me your questions because I want you to be ready to have fluent natural conversations in French.