Ways to say it
| French |
|---|
| se calmer |
| s'apaiser |
se calmer is used to describe the process of becoming less excited, angry or agitated. It is a versatile phrase that can be applied to people, such as a person stopping an outburst, as well as to inanimate things like a situation or the weather.
What does it mean word for word?
The verb is reflexive, where the se indicates that the subject is performing the action of calming upon themselves, literally meaning "to calm oneself".
Which one should you use?
While se calmer is the standard way to express this, s'apaiser is a more formal or literary alternative. It is often used when describing the soothing of deep emotions or the settling of a particular situation.
How does it change in a sentence?
When using the verb as an imperative command to a single person you know well, use the form calme-toi. If you are commanding a group of people or addressing someone formally, use the form calmez-vous.
Did you know?
- While calme-toi is a direct command, if you want to tell someone to 'chill out' in a very informal, slangy way, you might use the word zen, as in reste zen.
- In very informal settings, French speakers might use the expression redescendre which literally means 'to go back down' to describe the process of calming down.
- If you tell a person to décompresse (decompress), you are using a metaphor from physics that is commonly used in French to tell someone to relieve pressure or stress.
Examples in context
- Il doit se calmer.He should calm down.This sentence uses se calmer to indicate a person's need to calm down.Tatoeba #8661054 by Julien_PDC, translation #9266845 by shekitten
- Le temps va bientôt se calmer.The weather will soon begin to calm down.This sentence uses se calmer to describe the weather beginning to settle.Tatoeba #1995102 by nimfeo, translation #20326 by fishda
- Tom est sorti, histoire de se calmer.Tom went out to calm down.This sentence uses se calmer to describe someone going out for the purpose of calming down.Tatoeba #6848550 by felix63, translation #6849353 by Eccles17
- Calmez-vous, s'il vous plaît. Nous pouvons résoudre ce problème de manière civilisée.Please calm down. We can resolve this issue in a civilized manner.
- Je vous prie de vous calmer. Votre attitude n'est pas appropriée.I kindly ask you to calm down. Your attitude is not appropriate.
- Calme-toi, tout va bien se passer, tu sais.Calm down, everything will be fine, you know.
- Du calme! Arrête de t'inquiéter pour rien.Take it easy! Stop worrying about nothing.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Sources
- Wiktionary, “calm down” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
