bébé mignon
The English phrase "cute baby" is translated into French as bébé mignon.
The phrase bébé mignon is used to describe a young child who is attractive or endearing in a sweet way. When reacting to something or someone particularly endearing, French speakers often use the informal expression trop mignon (literally meaning "too cute") to mean "so cute".
Which one should you use?
The adjective mignon specifically implies a sense of being cute or sweet. This differs from the word beau, which means "beautiful" and implies a more formal or striking physical attractiveness.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
While bébé mignon is a standard way to express the idea, you may encounter more informal variations in casual conversation. For example, Trop chou is an informal way to say "so cute" and trop mignon is frequently used in casual speech to express that something is "so cute".
How does it change in a sentence?
Bébé mignon is a noun phrase where the adjective mignon follows the noun bébé. To form the plural, "cute babies", both the noun and the adjective must take an 's', resulting in des bébés mignons.
Did you know?
- The word bébé may have originated not from a child's sound, but from the nickname of a famous court dwarf named Nicolas Ferry. He was known across Europe as the 'Bébé' of the Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński.
- If you want to sound like a native speaker when seeing a cute baby, you might say trop chou. While chou literally means 'cabbage', it is a very common and affectionate way to say 'cute' or 'sweetie' in France.
- When using trop mignon to mean 'so cute', you are technically using a grammatical 'error' that is socially accepted. In strict French, trop means 'too much' in a negative sense, but in casual speech, it functions as an intensifier like 'very'.
Examples in context
- Quel joli bébé vous avez, vraiment mignon !What a lovely baby you have, so adorable!
- Ton bébé est trop chou !Your baby is so cute!
- Regardez cet adorable bébé, il est à croquer !Look at this adorable baby, so irresistibly cute!
- Quel bébé mignon !What a cute baby!
- C'est un bébé mignon.It is a cute baby.
- Regarde ce bébé mignon.Look at this cute baby.
Example conversation
Emma and Lucas are looking at a photo of a newborn.
- EmmaRegarde la photo de Lucas !Look at the photo of Lucas!
- LucasMerci, c'est un bébé mignon, n'est-ce pas ?Thank you, he is a cute baby, isn't he?
- EmmaOui, il est vraiment adorable.Yes, he is really adorable.
- LucasIl ressemble beaucoup à son père.He looks a lot like his father.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bébé, mignon, CC BY-SA 4.0.
