🧠 Base meaning of genre:

Originally, genre means:

  • noun: type, kind, category

    Quel genre de musique tu aimes ?
    What kind of music do you like?

But in spoken French, especially among younger people or in informal settings, it has evolved a lot 👇

🔥 Casual Uses of genre in Spoken French

1. Filler word / Discourse marker — like “like” in English

C’était, genre, trop bizarre.
➡️ It was, like, super weird.

Here, “genre” is just a filler — to buy time or make something sound softer or less direct.

2. To give an example / approximation

Il est, genre, médecin ou un truc comme ça.
➡️ He’s, like, a doctor or something.

Il m’a dit de venir à, genre, 18h.
➡️ He told me to come at like 6 PM.

3. To express disbelief or emphasis (sarcastic or exaggerated)

Genre il va vraiment faire ça ?
➡️ As if he’s actually gonna do that?
➡️ You really think he’s gonna do that?

Here, it adds an ironic or skeptical tone — a bit like “as if…” in English.

4. To rephrase or clarify what you mean

Je suis fatigué… genre, j’en peux plus.
➡️ I’m tired… like, I seriously can’t take it anymore.

C’est genre hyper important.
➡️ It’s like super important.

⚠️ Things to note:

  • It’s super common in spoken French, especially among younger speakers.
  • In formal writing or speech? Use with caution — it’s too casual there.
  • It’s not just a direct translation of “like” in every case, but they overlap a lot in tone and use.