The Four Hundred Blows - All About the Word “Coup”

“Coup,” is defined as a knock, a blow or a shock but it’s much more than that. It is the Swiss Army knife of the French language, it’s used everywhere for everything. For example, “du coup,” which literally means “thus” or “as a result” has become “un tic linguistique” that you will often hear at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of sentences as a placeholder and substitute for when we might say “so” or “therefore” or “anyway”. Du coup, you find it everywhere.

Some unavoidable examples of “coups” are: “un coup de main” (some help), “faire un coup” (do something unexpected or audacious), “un coup de téléphone / de fil” (a phone call), “un coup de chance” (a stroke of luck), “un coup de cœur” (something you really like) or “un coup de gueule” (a rant - about something you don’t like.)

avoir un coup de coeur!

Common to most “coup” expressions is suddenness or temporariness. One that you probably already know to mean love at first sight, namely, “un coup de foudre,” translates literally into “a stroke of lightning.”  Since emotions often hit hard, you won’t be surprised that there are many “coups” of this kind. Think of “un coup dur” (a tough experience), “un coup de tristesse” (a moment of sadness), and a couple more that don’t need translation like “un coup de blues” or “un coup de stress”.

Some “coup” expressions are mostly used in spoken, everyday French rather than in writing. These can “tout à coup” (suddenly) surprise anglophones who haven’t heard them before. For example, “encore un coup !” suggests surprise or reproach - the best Americanism I can come up with would be “Excuse me?!” There is also, “à tout les coups” which means “surely” or “every time” in confusing contrast to “pour le coup” which means “for once” or “this time.”

The title to this blog in French, “Les Quatre Cents Coups,” is the title of François Truffaut’s debut film where the 400 blows refers to “raising hell” or “to sew one’s wild oats.” Though that particular expression is rather opaque, you can often get the sense of the meaning of “coup” expressions just by remembering that they are transient and that “coup” itself often means an instance or a happening of something, in addition to being a blow or a knock.

For fun, here is a ginned up paragraph to decipher. Je vous souhaite un coup de chance !

Un soir tranquille, j’ai décidé d’appeler mon ami et je lui ai passé un coup de fil pour lui proposer une aventure. Il m’a dit qu’il pouvait venir m’aider et qu’il me donnerait un coup de main pour préparer quelque chose d’amusant. Tout à coup, la lumière s’est éteinte dans la maison et nous avons sursauté. Cette panne nous a donné un coup de frayeur, mais nous avons vite commencé à rire. Pour nous calmer, nous sommes sortis au bar du coin pour boire un coup. Là-bas, mon ami a eu un coup de cœur pour une vieille chanson qui passait à la radio. Du coup, nous avons décidé de rester un peu plus longtemps que prévu. En sortant, j’ai glissé sur le trottoir et je me suis donné un coup au genou. Ce n’était pas grave, mais ça m’a mis un coup au moral pendant quelques minutes. Finalement, en repensant à toute la soirée, nous avons compris que c’était surtout un coup de chance que tout se termine aussi bien.

boire un coup entre amis