Hello again Adam. I'm noticing your questions are about deep slang french words, aha :). OK...Though the previous answers don't seem to really want to say it, i'll do. You can litterally translate it by "merde" (as a noun). But it is very rude, pejorative...I think as much as in English "shit". You can use it with close friends (bros and bitches, to make a reference to your previous questions) and family you get well with (brothers, sisters, cousins, parents - if you consider them as bros - ...), with anyone else...you'd be considered as a very rude person, except if they are close to you and you get well with (I might repeat myself here, but it's important). In this context, any of the examples given by Arnaud, "truc" can be replaced by "merde" (noun). It would work ! Other example, a girl is telling her ex to get out of her house and take his stuff with him like "Take your shit out of here and get the f* out!" -> "Prends tes merdes et casse-toi !". Another one...you come home and you see your sister/brother has made a cake. You see it on the table and say "What's that shit?" -> "C'est quoi cette merde ?" I think we both agree : here, it is a bad move and can hurt your brother/sister feelings (in English and in French). Be careful though...We, french, are not used to hear a so deep slang from a non-native french. It might surprise us a bit ! Have fun with it, but with caution !

You've got several words: The most universal is "truc" that is very neutral, there is not the "shit" idea in it. J'ai besoin de passer au supermarché m'acheter quelques trucs à bouffer. Euh, t'as pas un truc à bouffer, je commence à avoir la dalle là. Nettoyez-moi ce truc-là, vous voyez pas que c'est sale ? Ce truc est impossible à comprendre. More "shitty" are the words "saloperie" and "connerie" (bullshit). J'ai besoin de passer au supermarché m'acheter quelques conneries à bouffer. Pff, t'en as pas marre de bouffer ces saloperies/merdes ? (it's very colloquial, close to vulgar)

Pour des français, le mot shit est vraiment vulgaire, c'est à la limite du gros mot. On ne l'utilisera que dans un cadre purement péjoratif. Par exemple, "oh shit!". On l'assimile beaucoup à fuck en réalité. Si tu cherche un mot qui pourrait remplacer "quelque chose", tu peux dire: - "ceci", "cela" ou "ça" (si tu parle d'une chose en particulier) - "des trucs", "quelque chose" ou "des choses" (si tu veux rester évasif et que tu ne veux pas dire de quoi il s'agit. Mais ce n'est pas un language soutenu) - "des conneries" ou "des machins" (attention, language vulgaire!!!) Enfin, attention à ne pas dire "shit" au milieu de votre phrase en français, car en français le shit c'est du cannabis... ;)

If somebody uses the word "shit" literally in English, we generally view that as extremely gross and vulgar. "I need to take a shit," is quite literal. And Some people would say that. People of my class would be disgusted and might respond, "I don't need to know that."

I must confess that when I wrote the question above, I was very lazy. I used Google translate, and I meant to write that quoted sentence, "I need to buy some shit before I go home" in English. But I forgot to. That is, Google translate translated it into French (poorly), and I forgot to change it. In English, nobody would think you meant literal shit. We very rarely use the word "shit" in English to mean literal excrement. We use it almost always as a general kind of vulgarity.