Scale
How loud? French from chuchoter to hurler
Murmurer, chuchoter, parler, élever la voix, crier, hurler: climb six French verbs for speaking volume and learn when to use each.
- B1
- 7 steps
- quiet → loud
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
French speech verbs rise from murmurer (to murmur) and chuchoter (to whisper) through parler and parler fort (to speak loudly) to élever la voix (to raise your voice), crier (to shout) and hurler (to yell, scream).
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
loud
- hurlerto yell, screamThe top: pain, rage, a concert crowd.
- crierto shoutArrête de crier !
- élever la voixto raise one's voiceOften with anger.
- parler fortto speak loudlyParle plus fort, je n'entends rien.
- parler à voix basseto speak quietlyNeutral: in a library.
- chuchoterto whisperChuchote, le bébé dort !
- murmurerto murmurSoft, often tender or secret.
quiet
Hear it in use
- Contrôleur
Pardon, vous pourriez parler moins fort ? C'est une voiture calme.
Excuse me, could you speak more quietly? It's a quiet coach.
- Voyageur
Oh, désolé, je chuchote, promis.
Oh, sorry, I'll whisper, promise.
- Voyageuse
Merci… mon fils hurlait de rire, il s'est réveillé !
Thanks… my son was howling with laughter, he woke up!
Hurler de rire (to howl with laughter) and crier victoire (to claim victory) are common idioms. Élever la voix is often a warning: ne m'élève pas la voix (don't raise your voice at me). The noun of chuchoter is un chuchotement; of crier, un cri.
Les supporters hurlaient dans le stade.
The fans were yelling in the stadium.
- Parle plus haut. (meaning louder)Parle plus fort.
Louder = plus fort.
- Il a crié moi.Il m'a crié dessus / Il a crié contre moi.
Crier sur quelqu'un (casual) or contre.