Tired and tired of something in French

Tired of saying ‘tired’? Discover more ways to say just exactly how tired you actually are. After all, there are different degrees of tiredness.

You will be discovering:

• 4 ways to say how tired you are
• 3 ways to say how to say you’re tired of something
• How you can learn these words more easily

How do you say “tired” in French?

Are you a bit tired? Very tired? Really tired or too tired? Naturally, there are several levels and some words will give the exact amount of “tiredness”.

To start with, the translation of “tired” is fatigué in French. For the feminine, add an “e”.

Here are some words you can put before your adjective to emphasize the degree.

• Je suis un peu fatigué >>> I am a bit tired.
• Je suis très fatigué >>> I am very tired.
• Je suis vraiment fatigué >>> I am really tired.
• Je suis trop fatigué >>> I am too tired.

In a normal conversation, you could hear the following:

• Tu as bien dormi ? Tu as l’air fatigué >>> Did you sleep well? You look tired. 

Now, the more you sleep, the less tired you look. That is why it would be great for you to learn or review this essential verb for your mental health: dormir (to sleep). It’s an irregular verb:

• Je dors 
• Tu dors
• Il / elle dort
• Nous dormons
• Vous dormez
• Ils / elles dorment

The informal version of “tired” in French.

Now that you can express the level of being tired, let’s discover a synonym for tired in the informal register:

• crevé (e) >>> shattered.

By the way, it also means flat for a tire. This is a tip to help you remember it. Imagine yourself like a tire then flat because you lost all your energy.

Here’s an example of using it:

• Tu as passé une nuit blanche ? Tu as l’air crevé. >>> Did you not sleep all night? You look shattered.

The formal version of “wrecked” in French.

Opposed to the previous paragraph, “épuisé” is a formal way to say that you are worn out. Once more, be sure to check the gender and add the extra “e” and “s” if it’s plural.

Let’s say an illustration of this word in context:

• Il faut que tu finisses. Tu as l’air épuisé ! >>> You need to stop. You look wrecked!

 For your information, the word “épuisé” also refers to out-of-stock or print.

A fun French expression to express tiredness

Time to have a bit more fun and play with figurative speech. Indeed, the French expression “mort(e) de fatigue” literally means dead of tiredness.

It’s a figure of speech expressing a very high level of exhaustion.

You would use it like this:

• Regarde le travail que tu as fait dans le jardin. Pas étonnant que tu sois mort (de fatigue) ! >>> Look at the work in the garden you did. No wonder you’re knackered!

So, these were the 4 ways to say you are tired in French. In the following part, you will be focusing on explaining how tired of things you are.

3 ways to say “tired of something” in French.

The formal structure to say you are tired of something is “las de”. Note that the final letter is silent for the masculine. On the contrary, for the feminine, you do say the “s”: “lasse”. 

Here is an example of this expression:

• Je suis las de ne pouvoir bien courir. >>> I’m tired of not being able to run well any more.

The equivalent in the “normal” register would be with the adjective “fatigué”.

• Je suis fatigué de ne pouvoir bien courir. >>> I’m tired of not being able to run well any more.

A French expression to express limited patience.

You are going to express the same idea but this time with directly the reflexive verb: “se lasser” (to get tired of something). To conjugate it, follow this:

• Je me lasse 
• Tu te lasses
• Il / elle se lasse
• Nous nous lassons
• Vous vous lassez
• Ils / elles se lassent

After your reflexive verb, there’s the preposition “de” followed by an infinitive.

In practice, you could hear or say this:

• Je me lasse d’attendre. >>> I’m tired of waiting.

Say this when you are tired of something. 

Another polite way to talk about your frustration is with the expression “en avoir assez de”. Literally, it means to have enough of it. Don’t forget the word “en” before your verb!

It would look like this:

• Je en ai assez d’être fatigué. >>> I’m tired of being tired.

How to use “avoir marre de” in French.

The exact same expression in the colloquial register is “en avoir marre de” which means to be fed up.

An example in a real context:

• Marre des puces sur ton chien? Ah oui, j’en ai vraiment marre ! >>> Fed up of fleas on your dog? Yup, I’m really sick of them!

 In case you are looking more a fun to memorise it, I can invite you to sing with French singer Alizée “J’en ai marre”.

To be tired and to be tired of something.

To sum up, you have several options to describe your tiredness according to the level or the register:

• fatigué, crevé, épuisé, mort de fatigue

There are even others like “exténué” and in the informal register: “vanné” and “ereinté”.

Being tired is something related to your physiology. However, if you are tired of something and want to express your frustration, you can do it with:

• las de, se lasser de, avoir assez de, avoir marre de.

I hope you are not “fatigué” of these mini-lessons aiming to help you with your French. Should you have any doubts, reach out and I will clear them. 

Je n'en aurai jamais MARRE !