🇫🇷 Verlan - French Slang 🇫🇷 Verlan is a form of French slang that consists of playing around with syllables, kind of along the same lines as pig Latin. Unlike pig Latin, however, verlan is actively spoken in France. Many verlan words have become so commonplace that they are used in everyday French. To "verlan" a word, simply separate it into syllables, reverse them, and put the word back together. In order to maintain the correct pronunciation, the verlaned word often undergoes some spelling adjustments. Unnecessary letters are dropped, while other letters are added to make pronunciation logical. There are no real rules for this; it's just something to be aware of. Note that not every word can or should be verlaned; verlan is used essentially to emphasize or hide the meaning of the main word(s) in a sentence. How It Works Let's start with the word l'envers, which means "the reverse." Separate l'envers into its two syllables l'en and vers. Invert them, put them together into a single word, and then adjust the spelling: l'envers... l'en vers... vers l'en... versl'en... verslen... verlen... verlan Thus, you can see that verlan is l'envers pronounced à l'envers ("reverse" pronounced in reverse). Let's try another example: pourri... pou rri... rri pou... rripou... ripou Most single-syllable words are just pronounced backwards. fou > ouf