faire défiler vers le bas
To say scroll down in French, use faire défiler vers le bas.
If the direction is already clear, French speakers often say just faire défiler. To scroll up, replace vers le bas with vers le haut.
What does it mean word for word?
faire means to make or do, défiler means to scroll or pass by in a line and vers le bas means towards the bottom.
Which one should you use?
To tell someone to scroll down, Défilez vers le bas is polite, Veuillez faire défiler vers le bas is the most formal and Fais défiler is what you say to a friend. In tech-heavy or informal settings people also use the borrowed verb scroller.
Did you know?
- The verb défiler originally described soldiers marching in a line or a parade passing by. In the digital age, this imagery was repurposed to describe the way text 'marches' up or down a screen.
- While faire défiler is the standard term, the borrowed English word scroller has become so common in French tech circles that it is conjugated as a regular French first-group verb.
- The word vers in vers le bas is a direct cognate of the English word 'versus'. Both come from the Latin word meaning 'turned'.
Examples in context
- Tu dois faire défiler vers le bas pour voir la suite.You have to scroll down to see the rest.
- Il faut faire défiler vers le bas pour lire l'article.You must scroll down to read the article.
Example conversation
Hugo is helping Chloé navigate a website on a laptop.
- ChloéJe ne vois pas le bouton sur l'écran.I don't see the button on the screen.
- HugoEssaie de faire défiler vers le bas, Chloé.Try to scroll down, Chloé.
- ChloéAh oui, il est tout en bas !Oh yes, it's at the very bottom!
- HugoSuper, je suis content que ça marche.Great, I'm glad that works.
