The beloved little yellow creatures of the Despicable Me franchise, the Minions, don’t speak a language known to humans. The Minions speech is “Minionese”, with some words being as simple as replacing the first letter with a “b”. Other times, the language is entirely gibberish, or they take words from other languages, like Spanish and Korean.
The latest movie to feature the Minions, Minions: The Rise of Gru, has an abundance of Minion moments. All are funny, cute, and a great watch. As the Minions venture to find their stolen “mini-boss”, Gru, they come into contact with Kung-Fu, and other villains. All the while, spouting great quotes from Minionese.
10 Ah, Fa-Voon
When the Minions first arrive at Gru’s house in search of a new evil boss, they are left heartbroken as Gru slams the door on them in disgust for their smallness and abundance of denim overalls. The poor Minions spend day and night outside, waiting for Gru to let them in.
After the Minions spend a few nights in the cold and the rain, Gru’s heart fills, and he decides to invite them inside by opening his window. One Minion shouts “Ah Fa-Voon” and then all Minions rush inside. Most likely, this line is “Come on in”, which is what Gru said.
9 Le Poofe Guacamole
When the ever-yapping Otto tells Gru why he has turned up to the secret lair with a rock with googly eyes rather than an ancient amulet, he explains rather frantically “le poofe guacamole”. The complete gibberish of the Minions is explained here with “I fell into the mud.” The adorable stupidity of the Minions is why Illumination is succeeding with every entry.
It’s assumed that this much is true, considering Otto is seen falling into a mudslide and covering his entire face and body in the wet dirt. Otto is a rather loud and talkative minion, so it’s no surprise his tales and misadventures have a lot of words.
8 Josh, Pump It Up
In one of the more eager moments of the film, two minions can be seen at a DJ stand. They are the hype-Minions of the entire Minion army. While everyone awaits Gru’s speech after stealing an ancient and powerful amulet from the Vicious 6, one of the DJ Minions shouts “Josh, pump it up!”
It’s no surprise that the Minions are so excited. They always love a good song and dance, especially when their boss brings back a true reward of villainy. This isn’t the first Minion success, as no one can top these yellow goofballs.
7 Be Nu Ro Ma Na Me Corafu
Toward the end of the film, the Minions all band together to sing. Fans of The Rolling Stones will immediately notice the tempo and rhythm of the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. The Minions sway as they sing as a choir before Otto comes in to sing a solo.
It’s a great song to symbolize Gru’s journey into adulthood as a villain and is bolstered by the ridiculous vocals of Otto the Minion for a great song. The quote itself, is jibberish for “I saw her today at the reception”, the first lyric of the song.
6 Pight En Seek
It seems that most of the Minions try to actively avoid talking to Otto. Not because they are entirely rude, and hate each other, but because Otto is quite the conversationalist. This Minion loves to talk and does so for a long time.
The Minions are already annoyed at Otto for losing Gru’s ancient amulet, so when Otto begins to ramble, some of the Minions elect for a game of “pight en seek”. This is their version of saying “hide and seek”, and Otto eagerly counts with his eyes closed as the Minions leave to “hide”.
5 Be Fabor
When the Minions want something from someone, they will often utter “be fabor”. This seems to be the Spanish version of “por favor” which means “please”. Out of disappointment from the incompetence of the Minions, Gru leaves his home and demands they leave after a few days. Kevin pleads “be fabor” to Gru.
The Minions do not want to lose their precious mini-boss, but Gru could never leave villainy to work in an office. This line is also spoken later in the film when Gru asks Dr. Nefario to join his evil crusade as a cool gadgets inventor. The Minions are great at getting what they want, considering their politeness and cuteness.
4 Mon-Pollio
Whilst true is trying to sleep, eagerly awaiting the morning, Bob, the smallest Minion, comes into his room to try and sleep in the same bed. This is due to Bob having “mon-pollio”, which is explained thanks to Gru as “I had a nightmare”.
Gru begrudgingly allows Bob to sleep in the same bed, despite not believing that he has had a nightmare. The affinity that the Minions share for Gru is clear, as they just want to spend all of their time with him.
3 Bello
One of the cuter lines of the Minions, “Bello” refers to “Hello”. This line is the most common greeting from the Minions and is spoken multiple times throughout the Despicable Me franchise. Sometimes, it is simply “Bello”, or if a Minion finds someone attractive, they will say “Bello Chica”, much like Stuart the Minion does to women.
Despite how hard to understand the Minions can be, their welcoming greeting is very clear, since the “h” is just replaced by a “b”. It may not be the most formal greeting, but the adorable look of the Minions makes it good enough.
2 Kiss-A-La-Momma
Considering Gru’s mother is rather neglective of her evil son, she doesn’t turn up at the school to pick him up. Enter the Minions, who arrive to pick Gru up, each dressed in 70s attire. Kevin the Minion is dressed up in a dress, wig, and lipstick, as if to be Gru’s mother.
Here, Kevin utters “Kiss-A-La Momma”, with his arms extended out, and his lips at the ready. Clearly, Kevin is saying “come kiss your mother”, to play even more so into the motherly role at the school.
1 Mini-Boss
When Gru was little, he wasn’t a big boss. Since he is the same height as the Minions, they refer to him as “mini-boss”. It’s a name that Gru seems to resent, as it makes him seem small and insignificant, and he often corrects them by saying “I am not mini.”
The Minions are obsessed with their “mini-boss”, Gru. Their loyalty is unwavering, and even if “mini-boss” may sound demeaning to the evil-inspired Gru, it is nothing short of a term of endearment for their dear boss. As the second prequel to Despicable Me, the viewing list is not as long as some other franchises.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is now showing in theatres