[ta ba]

tobacco, ~ smoke shop (shop that sells tobacco and stamps)

Informal expressions: passer qqun à tabac - to beat someone up; un passage à tabac - beating up; faire un tabac - to be a roaring success; c'est toujours le même tabac - it's always the same old thing; quelque chose du même tabac - something along those lines; un coup de tabac - squall

[ta kee nay]

Marie me taquine constamment - Marie teases me constantly.

Tu me taquines ! - You're bothering me!

Related words: taquin (adj) - teasing, la taquinerie - teasing

There's lots of good-natured taquinage in the forum - http://forums.about.com/ab-french

[tar ta(n) pyo(n)]

(informal) - what's-his-name

Le tartempion qui a fait ça, comment s'appelle-t-il ? - What's his name, the guy who did that?

Synonyms: M Untel, Mme Unetelle

[tah]

pile, heap

Mets tes vêtement en tas - Put your clothes in a pile.

un/des tas de (inf) - tons of, lots of, piles of

J'ai des tas de choses à faire - I have lots of things to do.

Il a raconté un tas de mensonges - He told me a pack of lies.

Related:

dans le tas (inf) - in the crowd: tirer dans le tas - to fire into the crowd, foncer dans le tas - to charge in, taper/piocher dans le tas - dig in (to the bag, box, etc.)

sur le tas - on the fly, as one goes along: la formation sur le tas - on the job training

un tas de boue (inf) - wreck, heap (car in poor condition); un tas de ferraille - scrapheap; un tas de fumier - dung heap; un tas d'ordures - rubbish/garbage heap; une grève sur le tas - sit-down strike

[tol]

(fam) - jail, clink, nick

Il est en taule ! - He's in the clink!

Related: aller en taule - to go down; mettre/foutre qqun en taule - to put someone in jail; faire de la taule - to do time; un taulard - convict

[to(n) to(n)]

uncle (babytalk)

Je t'aime, tonton Luc - I love you Uncle Luc.

Related: un oncle - uncle

More Baby Talk

[tra(n)p]

caliber, moral fiber, temper, quality; damping, wetting, soaking

Je cherche un homme de trempe - I'm looking for a man of caliber / with moral fiber.

Le processus commence avec la trempe du papier - The process begins with soaking the paper. 

(inf) - hiding, thrashing

Related: flanquer une trempe à qqun (inf) - to give someone a hiding; filer une trempe à qqun au tennis/foot (inf) - to thrash someone at tennis/soccer; tremper - to soak

[tra(n) ba lay]

Je déteste trimbaler toutes ces valises ! - I hate lugging all of these suitcases around!

Alice me trimbale depuis ce matin - Alice has been following me around since this morning.

Expression: Qu'est-ce qu'il trimbale ! - He's as dumb as they get!

Related word: le trimbal(l)age - carting/lugging around

Tired of having to "trimbaler" your dictionaries between home, school, work...? Try their online cousins: http://french.about.com/cs/dictionaries

[tra(n) kay]

to toast, drink to; to be damaged

On doit trinquer au futur des nouveaux mariés - We have to toast the future of the newly-weds.

C'est le vase qui a trinqué - The vase was damaged.

(informal) - to take the rap

Pierre a trinqué pour ses amis - Pierre took the rap for his friends.

(informal, old-fashioned) to booze; to bump into one another

[treep]

(inf, figurative) - core, fiber

Il a la tripe républicaine - He is Republican through and through / Republican to the core.

les tripes

(inf) - guts

Cette nouvelle m'a pris aux tripes - That news got me right there / in the guts

rendre tripes et boyaux - to be sick as a dog

(normal register) - tripe

Related: la triperie - tripe shop / trade

[tro(n)sh]

Quelle moche tronche ! - What an ugly mug!

Ne fais pas de drôles de tronches - Don't make any funny faces.

This term comes from "tronche" - a kind of tree, whose name comes from le "tronc" - the trunk of a tree.

Put your "tronche" to work and practice your French! http://french.about.com/mpchat.htm

[trweey]

J'ai la trouille ! - I'm scared to death!

Il a eu la trouille de sa vie - He got the fright of his life

Expressions: flanquer/ficher la trouille à quelqu'un - to scare the pants off someone

Related words (familiar) - trouillard (adj and noun) - yellow, chicken, yellowbelly; un trouillomètre - fear: avoir le trouillomètre à zéro - to be scared witless

Ignore your "trouille" and visit us in the forum :-)   http://forums.about.com/ab-french

[truk]

(informal) - thingie, whatsit, trick

Truc is one of those words that you just can't live without. Whenever you are stuck for a word, just throw truc in.

For example, you lose the thing that fastens your earring to your ear. I don't know how to say that, do you?

J'ai perdu le truc de ma boucle d'oreille - I lost my earring thingie.

J'ai perdu ce truc que tu m'avais donné - I lost that thingie you gave me.

J'ai pensé à un truc - I thought of something.

Il a trouvé le truc pour le faire - He figured out how to do it.

Synonyms: un machin (informal), un trucmuche (familiar)

[tur ba(n)]

(familiar) - job, daily grind

Je déteste mon turbin - I hate my job.

Ils vont au turbin - They're off to the daily grind.

Related: turbiner (familiar) - to slog/slave away, to keep one's nose to the grindstone

[twee yo]

Il doit remplacer ce tuyau - He needs to replace this pipe.

J'ai quelques tuyaux pour toi - I have a few tips for you.

C'était un tuyau crevé - It was a useless tip.

Expression: Il me l'a dit dans le tuyau d'oreille - He tipped me off about it

Related words: tuyauter - to give someone a tip, to tip someone off; la tuyauterie - piping, organ pipes; un tuyauteur (informal) - informant

Need some "tuyaux" about learning French? Take a look at my FAQ - http://french.about.com/library/bl_faq.htm

[teep]

type, kind; classic example, epitome

Quel type de moto cherchez-vous ? - What kind of motorbike are you looking for?

Mon frère est le type de l'égoïsme. - My brother is the epitome of selfishness.

(informal) - guy, bloke, chap

Ce type-là te regarde ! - That guy is looking at you!