Ma Foi French Expression Explained

Expression: Ma foiPronunciation: [ma fwa]Meaning: frankly, long story short, indeedLiteral translation: my faithRegister: informal, datedNotes: Ma foi is more of a filler or exclamation than an expression, which makes figuring out its meaning a little tricky. Its a bit old-fashioned so you dont necessarily want to use it yourself, but its still important to understand what it means. Uses for Ma Foi 1) Ma foi can mean frankly or in all honesty:Ma foi, je nen sais rien.Frankly, I dont know anything about that.Ma foi, à §a mest à ©gal.In all honesty / To tell you the truth, I dont care.Synonyms: crois-moi, en toute bonne foi, en toute franchise, franchement2) Ma foi can emphasize whatever you say it with:Ma foi, jespà ¨re que non.Well, I (certainly) hope not.Ma foi, oui.Indeed, yes.Cest ma foi vrai.Its certainly true.Synonyms: ben, en effet, enfin3) In the South of France, ma foi is commonly used to sum up a long, tedious, or obvious answer:a) Its a long, boring story, so Ill spare you the details:-Ça va? -Ma foi, à §a va.-How are you? -Fine, for the most part.Meaning: Im actually suffering from several minor ailments, but you dont want to hear about that so Ill just say that Im fine.Synonyms: bref, dans lensemble, en quelque sorte, en rà ©sumà ©, plus ou moinsb) The answer to that is obvious:-Sais-tu que Michel va divorcer? -Ma foi.-Do you know that Michel is getting di vorced? -Obviously.Meaning: Hes my best friend, so of course I know. (Optional: what a stupid question!)Synonyms: bien sà »r, à ©videmmentMa foi in English?Some English dictionaries include the expression ma foi meaning indeed.