arrête de m'embêter
In French, "stop bullying me" can be translated in several ways. The default form is arrête de m'embêter.
A request for someone to stop annoying or teasing you.
Which one should you use?
While arrête de m'embêter can mean "to bully" in a lighthearted or teasing sense, it is much milder than the French word for serious bullying, harceler. The phrase arrête de me chercher is a common colloquial way to say "stop picking on me" or "stop looking for trouble with me".
Did you know?
- If you want to sound much more aggressive than arrête de m'embêter, you would use arrête de me saouler, which literally means 'stop making me drunk' but is used to mean 'stop annoying me to death'.
- If someone is being truly annoying, a French speaker might say tu me casses les pieds, which literally means 'you are breaking my feet'.
- In Quebec, you may hear arrête de me tanner instead of embêter. Tanner originally refers to the process of curing leather, implying the person is wearing you down.
Examples in context
- Arrête de m'embêter avec tes blagues.Stop teasing me with your jokes.
- S'il te plaît, arrête de m'embêter.Please, stop annoying me.
- Arrête de m'embêter, je travaille !Stop bothering me, I'm working!
Example conversation
Emma is teasing Gabriel about his new haircut.
- GabrielEmma, arrête de m'embêter.Emma, stop teasing me.
- EmmaJe ne fais que plaisanter !I'm only joking!
- GabrielMais ça devient agaçant.But it's getting annoying.
- EmmaD'accord, j'arrête.Okay, I'll stop.
