bouleversé émotionnellement
The English phrase 'emotionally triggered' can be translated into French as bouleversé émotionnellement.
This phrase is used to describe the experience of a strong, sudden emotional reaction caused by a reminder of a past traumatic event.
What does it mean word for word?
The word bouleversé literally means to be turned upside down, deeply shaken or overwhelmed.
Which one should you use?
In French, you should not use the word déclenché to describe a person's internal emotional state. While déclenché is the literal translation for a 'trigger' in the context of a mechanism or a process, it does not convey the feeling of being emotionally triggered.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective must agree with the gender of the person being described: if the person is female, use the feminine form bouleversée émotionnellement by adding an 'e' to the end.
Did you know?
- In French, if you are 'triggered' by a specific object, you might say the object a fait remonter things, meaning it 'made things come back up' from the depths of the mind.
- While English speakers use 'triggered' for both trauma and minor annoyances, using bouleversé for a small annoyance would sound like a dramatic overstatement to a French speaker.
- The word bouleversé is composed of boule meaning 'ball' and versé meaning 'poured' or 'turned over'.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries émotionnellement, CC BY-SA 4.0.
