PIGER: the familiar way to say understand.

Imagine you could say “J’ai compris” in a more familiar, A more 'French' way. 

We all want to say how well we’ve understood things in our conversation. But somehow, “I understood” feels a little, well, let’s say, ‘translated’ at times. 

Why not speak French like you speak English and say “I got it!” in French?

In this lesson, you’ll learn:

• How to say “Got it” in French.
• How to say you got the hang of something.
• How to remember new words easily.

How to say understand in French.

First, the typical way to say “I’ve understood” is the literal translation with the passé composé “J’ai compris”.

Indeed, the verb “comprendre” means to understand.

One example with it would be like this:

• J’ai bien compris ce qu’elle voulait dire >>> I understood very well what she meant. 

The French verb "understand" in the familiar register.

Yet, there is another, more natural answer you might come across in real conversations with your friends.

In English, when what you really want to say is “Did you get it”, well, in French the equivalent is “Tu as pigé ?”.

You could even be more familiar by ditching the “u” and say “T’as pigé ?”.

Guess what? Even one word could be enough: “Pigé ?”.

Here’s a full sentence for you: 

• Tu dois faire comme ça. Pigé ? >>> You have to do it like this. Did you get it? 

Expressing “I got the hang of it” in French.

Previously, we saw how to ask the question. With the same idea, the answer meaning “I got the hang of it” would be “J’ai pigé” in French.

In a normal conversation you would hear the following:  

• Tu expliques bien. Maintenant, j’ai pigé ! >>> You explain very well. Now, I've got the hang of it!

The practical ways to use “piger” in everyday conversations.

Now, let’s play with the verb “piger” and conjugate it a little to practise.

With the passé composé, an example would be like this:

• Quand tu as pigé, tu vas avoir l’air plus “français” >>> When you’ve realised, then you’ll be able to sound more “French”.

Let’s use the same sentence in English, but in French, we’ll have a future tense at the start there: 

• Quand tu auras pigé, tu vas avoir l’air plus “français” >>> When you’ve realised, then you’ll be able to sound more “French”.

Some tips to learn new words more easily.

In case you need some tips to learn new words, let me offer some ideas. There are many ways to make new words your own.

For instance, you could learn them by associating them with other words, images, writing them, using some prompts…

As far as the pronunciation is concerned, say it out loud several times, record your voice, sing the new words…

Finally, there’s nothing more powerful than learning words in context with your own mistakes, with real conversations, with real people, with no time to think about them, with instant feedback…

Choose the best method(s) for you. Don’t be scared to try all of them to see what speaks to you the most.

The subtle ways to use the word “piger” in French.

At this stage, you should be able to recognise the verb “piger” in French conversations or films. More importantly, you can use the fun answer of “j’ai pigé” each time you wish to confirm that you’ve understood something.

Remember that learning a language involves the traditional way to say things but also the familiar register since native people use it as well.

After all, you want to be able to mingle in the crowd and have everyday dialogs with local French speakers.

Here is what you saw in this mini-lesson:

• Tu as pigé ?/ t’as pigé ? / Pigé ? >>> Did you get it?
• J’ai pigé >>> I got the hang of it.
• Several tips to learn new words

I really hope that you have pigé this lesson and had fun with it.

Contact me if you have any questions - I love questions.