French expression of the day: Au boulot !
A handy phrase to say to yourself or to any slackers that you find yourself hanging around with.
Why do I need to know au boulot?
Because you are very likely to hear it, either at work or when doing an activity that needs at least a little motivation.
What does it mean?
Boulot is a slightly slangy French term for work or job. The more formal term would be travail (au travail is also an expression that has the same meaning as au boulot.)
Generally au boulot means “back to work / let's get to work”. It's actually the short version of the phrase se mettre au boulot (getting down to work), but it's more common to just say au boulot.
Depending on who says it, it might become more of an order than a motivational phrase.
READ ALSO: French word of the day: Télétravail
For example, if your lunch breaks takes a bit longer than it should, your boss might come and lecture you with an au boulot, meaning you should go back to your desk right now.
When with colleagues, if you say au boulot when going back to work after a nice sunny break, it will mean “back to the grind”.
Also, an au boulot can come from a motivated colleague or friend, when doing a group project or in other life situations such as assembling pieces of furniture, helping someone moving out or cleaning the house in order to motivate the group.
Use it like this
Il faut vraiment que je me mette au boulot, j’ai pris trop de retard sur ce projet - I really have to start working, I am way behind on this project
Ce nouveau meuble ne vas pas s’installer tout seul, au boulot ! - This new piece of furniture is not going to move itself, let’s go!
Il faut vraiment que l’on termine cette présentation, arrêtez de parler de votre week-end et au boulot – We really need to finish this presentation, stop talking about what you did this weekend and back to work.
Synonyms
Au travail - Let’s get to work
Retournons bosser - Let’s go back to work
Se mettre à l’ouvrage - Set to work
You will also hear the word boulot in a particularly Parisian phrase - métro, boulot, dodo which describes the daily grind of commute, work, sleep, repeat.
Comments
See Also
Why do I need to know au boulot?
Because you are very likely to hear it, either at work or when doing an activity that needs at least a little motivation.
What does it mean?
Boulot is a slightly slangy French term for work or job. The more formal term would be travail (au travail is also an expression that has the same meaning as au boulot.)
Generally au boulot means “back to work / let's get to work”. It's actually the short version of the phrase se mettre au boulot (getting down to work), but it's more common to just say au boulot.
Depending on who says it, it might become more of an order than a motivational phrase.
READ ALSO: French word of the day: Télétravail
For example, if your lunch breaks takes a bit longer than it should, your boss might come and lecture you with an au boulot, meaning you should go back to your desk right now.
When with colleagues, if you say au boulot when going back to work after a nice sunny break, it will mean “back to the grind”.
Also, an au boulot can come from a motivated colleague or friend, when doing a group project or in other life situations such as assembling pieces of furniture, helping someone moving out or cleaning the house in order to motivate the group.
Use it like this
Il faut vraiment que je me mette au boulot, j’ai pris trop de retard sur ce projet - I really have to start working, I am way behind on this project
Ce nouveau meuble ne vas pas s’installer tout seul, au boulot ! - This new piece of furniture is not going to move itself, let’s go!
Il faut vraiment que l’on termine cette présentation, arrêtez de parler de votre week-end et au boulot – We really need to finish this presentation, stop talking about what you did this weekend and back to work.
Synonyms
Au travail - Let’s get to work
Retournons bosser - Let’s go back to work
Se mettre à l’ouvrage - Set to work
You will also hear the word boulot in a particularly Parisian phrase - métro, boulot, dodo which describes the daily grind of commute, work, sleep, repeat.
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