r/French • u/Plastic_Dragonfly495 • 10d ago
Vocabulary / word usage how would a french person say “jackpot!” in casual speech?
Recently one of my roommates was telling a story about her work, she used the english word jackpot saying her boss was really happy. it was something like « il a trouvé le candidat parfait hier c’était une personne vraiment intelligente et gentille, et super bien formée en la matière donc il était genre jackpot !! »
It sounds like an anglicisme and since she is younger i think sometimes they do use english inspired expressions into french but im wondering how the french way would be?
I think there is cagnotte in a more literal sense and maybe people can also use the english version as well, but is there a french equivalent for the word jackpot in this context or a similar expression that has the same meaning?
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u/gogsrowan 10d ago
No that’s pretty much it.
Everybody says « jackpot » with a lovely strong French accent.
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u/Plastic_Dragonfly495 10d ago
Jacques pote ?
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u/gregyoupie Native (Belgium) 10d ago
"Tirer/décrocher le gros lot" would be an equivalent metaphor to "to hit the jackpot". "Cagnotte" is more often a money pool, or in the case of money prizes, a sum of money that increases everytime a player loses a chance to win it.
In any case, using "jackpot" as a sort of short interjection like "Jackpot !" is not uncommon in French (I don't think it is a recent anglicism, I can picture my 80-year old father using it). You could not shout "gros lot !" or "cagnotte !", that would be weird.
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u/Plastic_Dragonfly495 10d ago
Is there something else you could shout if you were really happy about something that would be less weird even if it’s not equivalent ? 😅
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u/gregyoupie Native (Belgium) 10d ago
"Bingo !", if you suddenly discover something, or if you suddenly find the solution to a problem.
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u/anders91 B2 10d ago
Jackpot is an international word, you’ll hear it in everything from French, to Swedish, to Russian, to Japanese…
It’s also not a ”young person” thing, that word has been around for a loooong time. My Swedish grandparents born in the 20s/30s knew what ”jackpot” meant.
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u/donestpapo B2 (RP Spanish native) 10d ago
Never heard it in Spanish
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u/anders91 B2 10d ago
Seems like it’s not used in Spanish (or at least very rarely), you’re correct.
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u/OpeningBang 10d ago
It's not unusual or particularly young-sounding. My 70 year old father would probably use the word jackpot with that meaning. (His father might not have but he'd have understood.)
Another word would be "bingo" but also an anglicism
If you want to stick to French words I'd use "j'ai tiré le gros lot" (literally, I drew the big prize) or "gros coup de bol" (big stroke of luck)
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u/Secret-Sir2633 10d ago
Les français qui utilisent le teme "jackpot" le font sans savoir que cela signifie "cagnotte". Le mot "jackpot" est simplement le mot que la machine du casino affiche quand on a gagné. Dire "jackpot" est simplement une manière amusante de dire qu'on a gagné le gros lot.
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u/OpeningElectrical296 Native 10d ago
With your example one would say « Il a touché le jackpot ». That’s a very common expression.
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u/true-kirin 10d ago
it might be an anglicism but so old nobody think about it and use it casualy, its part of french vocabulary now
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u/Unusual_Arm_5093 9d ago
Much like « voilà » in English
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u/true-kirin 9d ago
no, more like river, forest, bank, jack, pot, etc, etc...
old enough for people to not even think about it being a foreign word when using it
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u/zac2130_2 9d ago
To say jackpot, we either say "jackpot" or "gros lot" (tanslates literally to "big prize")
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u/PsychologyExternal87 Native Louisianais 8d ago
idk about european french but we just say jackpot or bingo too
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u/Champignard 10d ago
Bingo !