sous-marin
/su.ma.ʁɛ̃/masculine
The French word for submarine is sous-marin.
sous-marin is used as a noun to refer to an undersea boat. It can also function as an adjective meaning undersea.
Meaning: undersea boat (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is a compound of sous (under) and marin (marine or sea).
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun is masculine. The masculine plural form is sous-marins. When used as an adjective, the spelling changes to match the gender and number of the noun it modifies: use sous-marine for feminine singular, sous-marins for masculine plural and sous-marines for feminine plural.
How do you pronounce it?
/su.ma.ʁɛ̃/. It has 3 syllables.
Did you know?
- In French, the phrase en mode sous-marin can be used metaphorically to describe someone acting in a secretive or 'stealth' manner.
- In French military slang, a sous-marin is sometimes called a tube, referring to the narrow cylindrical shape of the vessel.
- Unlike English, which uses 'sub' as a common shorthand, French speakers rarely shorten sous-marin to just sous.
Examples in context
- Le sous-marin est remonté à la surface.The submarine has surfaced.This sentence shows the submarine surfacing.Tatoeba #3177486 by Blabla, translation #10361113 by sundown
- De ma vie, je n'ai jamais vu de sous-marin jaune.I've never seen a yellow submarine in my life.Tatoeba #10017582 by Rovo, translation #253794 by CK
- Le sous-marin est finalement remonté à la surface.The submarine finally came to the surface.This sentence describes a submarine finally reaching the surface.Tatoeba #11146710 by lbdx, translation #3060810 by sharptoothed
- L'explorateur a plongé dans l'océan à bord d'un sous-marin de recherche.The explorer dived into the ocean aboard a research submarine.
- Le navire sous-marin a parcouru de grandes distances à la recherche de nouvelles espèces marines.The submarine traveled great distances in search of new marine species.
- 10 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are watching a documentary about the ocean.
- ManonRegarde ce gros sous-marin sur l'écran.Look at that big submarine on the screen.
- LucasIl est vraiment impressionnant, ce sous-marin.That submarine is really impressive.
- ManonTu aimerais bien monter à bord, Lucas ?Would you like to go on board, Lucas?
- LucasNon, j'ai un peu peur de l'espace confiné.No, I am a little afraid of confined spaces.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “submarine” translations and entries sous-marin, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
