22 Minionese Phrases to Speak Like a Minion

Minionese, the adorable language used by our favourite yellow, capsule-shaped henchmen in the “Despicable Me” franchise.  

This language has been able to make people of all ages, all over the world, laugh endlessly through their blends of languages, sounds, and comedic gestures. In the article, we will teach tips on the Minions syllables, key phrases to become a Minionese speaker, and delve into how the creators came up with this language that related to people from all kinds of backgrounds.  

Understanding the Minions syllables  

Minionese is a fun and playful blend of gibberish, onomatopoeia, and words taken from a multitude of languages including Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Italian. Here are a few tips to get you started on understanding Minionese:  

• Key Syllables include: “A” sounds, “I” sounds, “O” sounds and “U” sounds. Below are some of the main sounds used in the playful language.

• Repetition: Many of the sounds used in the Minionese language are repeated. This makes the language humorous and playful! For example, BEE DO BEE DO BEE DO or Muak Muak Muak.  
• Familiar words: Many words in the Minion language are replicated from real words from different languages. For example, “Kenpai” is Japanese, “Kemari” is Indonesian, and “Que paso” is Spanish.  
• Scenario cues: Often you’d need to watch the scene to understand what the Minions are saying as their actions, body language, and the situation, will act as a cue to decode their speech.  

Essential Minionese Phrases to Know 

1. Bello – Hello  
2. Ayoo – Hey 
3. Poopaye – Goodbye  
4. Tank yu – Thank you  
5. Bi-do – I’m sorry 
6. Sa la ka! – How dare you!  
7. Poka? – What? 
8. Stupa – Stop 
9. Tulaliloo ti amo – We love you 
10. Kiss kiss – Muak muak muak 
11. Para tu – For you  
12. Luk at tu – Look at you 
13. Me want banana – I’m hungry  
14. Underwear – I swear  
15. Hana, dul, sae – One, two, three  
16. Bee do bee do bee do – Fire  
17. Baboi – Toy  
18. Bapple – Apple  
19. Gelato – Ice cream  
20. La boda – Marriage  
21. Kanpai – Cheers  
22. Buttom – Bottom 

The Creation of Minionese

The directors of the “Despicable Me” movies, Pierre Coffin, and Chris Renaud wanted a language that sounded silly and funny, yet universally understandable. This funny language, also known as Banana Language, is taken from a bunch of words from other languages, the directors mentioned in an interview that they envisioned the Minions working for evil villains globally, so therefore, it made sense to take influence from several language to create this new language.  

“Their language sounds silly, but when you believe that they’re actually communicating, that’s what makes it funnier. What’s great about the Minion language, while it is gibberish, it sounds real because Pierre puts in words from many languages and does the lion’s share of the Minion recordings. There are a lot of food references. For example, ‘poulet tiki masala’ is French for the Indian chicken dish,” Chris Renaud said. 

Their goal, which has been successful in all the Minion-featured movies, was to create something that would be universally fun and endearing, tapping into the childlike nature of the Minions. Dive into Minion toys for kids to find all your favourite Minion characters for collections or imaginative play.   

To know more about the characters in the Minion army, read our blog “Meet the Minions”.  

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