As everybody knows, our dear Monsieur Bonnefoy is a romantic man, and what’s more romantic than calling your lover a thousand things that aren’t their actual name! ♥ Pet names are extremely common in french, you can use them for practically anybody but beware! Some names are adequate for friends but not lovers, young people but not older people, men but not women-
I’ve seen these pet names used wrong in many, many fanfics I’ve read online so I think a bit of a crash course would be good for anybody who writes fic with Francis!
NOTE: French is, like many other romance languages, a gendered language with a grammatical masculine and feminine. French does not have a gender-neutral pronoun (at least, not officially) and thus no gender-neutral way to refer to words.
This is important to keep in mind for the sake of grammar alone. Thank you.
1/ The basics
The most used pet name is chéri, which means dear. Mon chéri = my dear.
Chéri/e is a ‘cuter’ version of the words cher/chère which also mean dear (but can also mean dear as in ‘expensive’- it’s considered a little old-timey or sarcastic to call someone mon cher/ma chère nowadays!)
The most common mistakes people make are mixing up gender-relative pronouns and the gender of the word itself. Chéri is a variable word, meaning it has a feminine; chérie.
Mon chérie and ma chéri are both incorrect.
As you may have noticed, there’s a change of pronoun whether the word is masculine or feminine. Mon and ma both mean ‘my’ but are both respectively the male and female possessive pronoun.
2/ Variable/Invariable words
Nouns in french can be variable or invariable, meaning that some of them have an ‘other gender’ equivalent or not! Chéri is variablebecause it has a female equivalent, chérie (also note: the letter e at the end of a word often denotes the feminine form BUT NOT ALWAYS! ahhhh… French.)
Amour (love) is invariable on this point. Amour is a masculine word with no feminine equivalent, therefore one would always call their lover mon amour regardless of them being a man or a woman.
Mon trésor (my treasure) is masculine, ma puce (my flea) is feminine (I swear it’s used! ;o; ), mon ange (my angel) is masculine, mon cœur (my heart) is also masculine, ma biche (my doe) is feminine, etc…
Animal names as pet names will more often than not have a feminine. Mon loup/ma louve (my wolf) is an example of this. Always check if your preferred animal nickname has a masculine or feminine equivalent! Some animal names are only used in one form- But that’s anther story.
Anyway, I’m rambling. Let’s get to what we were all here for!
3/ Use of pet names and terms of endearment
For a male lover, Francis would most likely use…
Mon cher (my dear)
Mon chéri (my dear) *
Mon amour (my love)
Mon cœur (my heart)
Mon canard (my duck)
Mon trésor (my treasure) *
Mon loup (my wolf) [ variant: loulou * (also a diminutive for the name Louis) ]
Grand fou (translates to crazy man, supposedly a man who is crazy about you) *
Mon étalon (my stallion – with OBVIOUS SEXUAL CONNOTATIONS)
Mon beau(my handsome (man) )
Mon ours (my bear)
(*) These can be used without the possessive pronoun
For a female lover, Francis would most likely use…
Ma chère (my dear)
Ma chérie (my dear) *
Mon amour (my love)
Mon cœur (my heart)
Mon ange (my angel)
Mon trésor (my treasure) *
Ma tigresse(my (female) tiger – kind of sexual) *
Mon chaton(my kitten) *
Ma biche (my doe)
Ma belle (my beautiful (girl/woman) )
Ma colombe (my dove)
Ma poupée (my doll)*
(*) These can be used without the possessive pronoun
For your convenience, here’s a list of terms of endearment that are mostly gender-neutral, regarding the person you use it with.
Mon amour (my love)
Mon cœur (my heart)
Mon ange (my angel)
Mon trésor (my treasure)
I’m sure I’ll find others soon enough. Chéri/e can be used verbally since both words are pronounced exactly the same way!
BONUS:
(I wanted an excuse to draw Monmon)
Let me explain to you the use of mon chou.
There is actually no good translation for this word (cauliflower isn’t an accurate equivalent) but it goes in the same vein as chéri. It’s an invariable word which is always masculine regardless of who you use it for. It can be honest, friendly, loving, motherly- or downright condescending. (think- oh honey…) Context is always important for this. I personally hc that Monaco uses it a lot for this ambiguity!
That’s all I have for now! I apologise if it was a bit rambly or complicated- but feel free to ask questions in the replies or my askbox!
“Lis. That’s what Lestat calls me. French for lily. I didn’t like it at first. I remember the first time he called me that, I got upset. I thought it was condescending of him. I’m not his delicate little flower, I used to think. But it wasn’t something he just threw around, I began to notice. He used it rather sparingly, only saying it when he spoke softly and genuinely. And I came to love it. He didn’t use it for anyone else. See, he would use other french terms when trying to get a meal out of someone. He would seduce them, calling them mon coeur, and mon amour. But lis was reserved for me. No one had done that for me before. No one had ever called me anything but Louis. And so I grew to love it. And I still do love it. He still calls me lis when he wants my undivided attention, or when he wants to calm me down. It’s become one of my favorite words, and nothing sounds better than hearing it whispered in his voice. His lily.”
I haven’t heard about that at all, it’s possible! Let’s hope we get enough kissing in the upcoming adaptation to make up for the lack of L/L smooches in movie!IWTV <333
Idk, tho, Brad was willing to kiss an actual child, I feel like that’s more taboo than kissing an adult man. Knowing the kind of roles he’s had in his career I don’t think he would have refused to kiss a man onscreen in 1994.
^This was apparently not a “stage kiss,” Kirsten said this was her first kiss with a guy and she apparently hated it; she said it felt like kissing her brother (which really is pretty accurate).
^You might also be thinking of that moment where Louis sort of teases that he’s gonna kiss Armand but he doesn’t actually do it.
♛A polyamorous relationship? *sits up, grins, rubs his hands together* Anon, if and when you successfully manage it, you tell me how to do it! I’ve been trying for years to get Louis to accept David and David to accept Louis for this very arrangement; does it not make perfect sense that if they love me separately, they should be able to love me together, at the same time, in the same bed, or wherever we are?! Why the hell not! Alas.
I do have some experience with threesomes – andmoresomes – but only really outside the context of a relationship, and that is typically with people who don’t expect the ongoing relationship aspect. These purely physical interludes can be extremely satisfying, the extra set of hands, the extra lips… etc. Such indulgence. Like an upgrade from your bathtub to a jacuzzi with jets (Not that I don’t also love my bathtub as it is *flicks a fang*).
I won’t tell you it’s not worth trying, but I would advise you to tread carefully, especially if you’ve all called it platonic already. As in a two-person friendship that you might want to escalate into a romantic relationship, there’s the risk of losing them if the feeling isn’t mutual. How do you know when to do it in that situation? Well… every relationship, between friends or lovers, is defined by the people in it, you mutually set the expectations and limits together.
When do you decide that you want to be closer to someone? What are the signals they give that they want that, too? Not every relationship requires physical intimacy, that’s something you mutually decide, too.
My love life is flashing before my eyes and I can’t pick out answers to those questions *frowns* Unfairly, the best I can tell you is what’s been true for me, that you’ll know when you know, when you can’t keep your hands to yourself because you need their skin on yours, you want to feel their heartbeat with your own and you have a burning need to ask them, “Can I hold your hand?” … And you are 99% sure that they’ll say, “Yes.”
Mon amour – My love
Ma chérie/Mon chéri – My darling
Mon coeur – My heart (literally)
Mon bébé – My baby
compliments
Tu es magnifique – You are gorgeous. Tu es une fille/un garçon en or – You’re a girl/a boy as precious as gold.
Tu es plus belle/beau chaque jour qui passe – You get prettier every day.
Tu es parfait(e) comme tu es – You are perfect just the way you are.
random things
Je ne peut pas vivre sans toi – I can’t live without you. Tu es mon tout – You are my everything.
Mon coeur t’appartient – My heart belongs to you.
Je suis tienne/tien – I am yours.
ways to say I love you
Je t’aime plus que tout – I love you more than anything.
Mon amour pour toi est infini – My love for you is endless.
Je suis follement amoureuse/eux de toi – I am crazy in love with you.
“The fucking firetruck” is what made me lose it haha! Oh, I love your edits, darling
Merci *u* I love that one too! Ppl miss alot of my quality stuff bc it’s buried in the archive, get your shovels and go dig it up! That firetruck one was from Jan ‘16.
And I made these just now FOR YOU and they are pretty dark oh well I’m only a little bit sorry.
Don’t forget Lestat is half Italian and Yes Louis would like some.
I-want-my-IWTV 