We’ve seen quite a few times now how the verb niaiser can be used to render the expression I’m just kidding (you) into French:
J’te niaise,
which is a contraction of je te niaise. J’te niaise sounds like ch’te nyèz. (Ch’te sounds like the French word te with the French ch sound stuck on the front of it.) It literally means I’m kidding you, I’m joking you.
During a conversation, though, an elderly woman said I’m just kidding in a different way. She didn’t say j’te niaise. In fact, she didn’t use the verb niaiser at all, but she did use the plural noun blagues, meaning jokes.
Can you guess how she said it?
Here’s what she said:
C’est des blagues que j’fais!
I’m just kidding (you)!
(literally, “I’m making jokes,” “it’s jokes that I’m making”)
J’fais is a contraction of je fais. It sounds like ch’fais.
Getting back to j’te niaise, if you haven’t learned that one yet, learn it now. It’s used frequently. The negative form is also used a lot: j’te niaise pas, meaning I’m serious, I’m not kidding, for real, etc.
