You may be familiar with the common money-related verbs gagner (to earn) and dépenser (to spend). While straightforward in a financial context, these French verbs take on meanings that may surprise you when used in non-monetary settings.

Let’s start with the verb gagner, as in gagner de l’argent (to earn money). In the following video, Barbara is desperate to gagner un peu d’argent:

Il fallait absolument que je trouve un moyen de gagner un peu d'argent.

I absolutely had to find a way to earn a little money.

Caption 18, Mère & Fille Crazy Sitting

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We could say that Barbara is ready to start gagner sa vie (earning a living):

Barbara a hâte de pouvoir gagner sa vie comme sa maman.

Barbara can’t wait to earn a living like her mother.

Or Barbara could buy a lottery ticket instead, in hopes of gagner au loto (winning the lottery). That's exactly what happens to Sacha in this video:

Sacha a gagné au loto !

Sacha won the lottery!

Caption 7, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 5

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Here is something else you can gagner (win) in French: time! The phrase gagner du temps literally means "to win time," or “to gain time." ("To gain" is actually a cognate of gagner!) See how this cider manufacturer gagne du temps (gains time):

Donc, pour gagner un petit peu de temps, les pommes ont donc été préparées, nettoyées et coupées en morceaux.

So, to gain a little bit of time, the apples have therefore been prepared, cleaned and cut into chunks.

Captions 4-6, Frédéric La fabrication du jus de pomme - Part 1

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Gagner du temps also translates as “to save time,” depending on your perspective:

Je n'ai pas besoin de prendre les transports, donc je gagne beaucoup de temps sur ma journée.

I don't need to take public transportation, so I save a lot of time for my day.

Captions 55-56, Français avec Nelly Ma vie à Paris - Part 1

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As for “spending time," there are two ways of doing this in French: dépenser son temps (to use/spend one's time) or passer son temps (to pass one's time). The phrase dépenser son temps is not very common and is often used in a negative context. In the example below, time, like money, is considered a precious commodity that should not be wasted:

Ce n’est pas la peine de dépenser tout son temps à jouer aux jeux vidéos. 

It’s not worth spending all your time playing video games.

On the flip side, dépenser can also carry positive connotations, particularly regarding religious dedication:

L'homme doit dépenser tout son temps au service de Dieu.

Man must spend all his time serving God.

In most cases, however, French speakers use the phrase passer son temps to describe how they spend their time:

C'est un métier où on passe notre temps à ranger d'un côté sur l'autre,

It's a job where we spend our time putting things in place from one side to the other,

Captions 9-10, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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On the other hand, do use the verb dépenser (to spend) in a financial context. For example, in this video, dépenser de l’argent (spending money) is a fun activity for Barbara—until she realizes she has none left:

Si t'as dépensé ton argent, c'est ton problème.

If you spent your money, that's your problem.

Captions 33-34, Mère & Fille L'argent de poche

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Among other things, Barbara needs to watch her dépenses téléphoniques (phone expenses):

Pour maîtriser mes dépenses téléphoniques, ma mère avait opté pour un forfait commun.

To keep my phone expenses under control, my mother had opted for a family plan.

Captions 22-23, Mère & Fille Le coup de téléphone

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In French, it’s not just money that you can dépenser (spend). It’s also possible to se dépenser: literally “to expend energy on oneself,” or in other words, “to exercise” or “work out":

Et si vous alliez vous dépenser avec Maxime?

What if you went for a workout with Maxime?

Caption 60, Le Jour où tout a basculé Des hôtes pas comme les autres - Part 3

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In addition, se dépenser (exercising) is an opportunity to dépenser des calories (burn calories):

C'est mieux de... de faire ça, même si c'est calorique, c'est ci, c'est là... Non mais... -Tu les dépenses après.

It's better to... to do that, even if it's calorific, it's this, it's that... No but... -You use them up [burn them] afterward.

Captions 60-62, Sophie et Patrice Le petit-déjeuner

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Now that we’ve explored ways to gagner (earn, win) and dépenser (spend), how about discussing ways to “save” in a future lesson? Merci d’avoir passer du temps à lire cette leçon ! 

Un machin doesn't mean "a machine" (that's une machine). In fact, it doesn't mean anything specific at all. It's a filler word, used when you're speaking generally or when you can't think of the proper word for something. It's an informal alternative to une chose (a thing), roughly equivalent to "thingy" or "thingamajig," or when plural, "stuff":

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

C'est-à-dire... de la confiture et des machins comme ça.

That is to say... jam and stuff like that.

Caption 10, Sophie et Patrice - Le petit-déjeuner

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D'abord, je mets un peu d'acétone

First, I apply a little bit of acetone

parce que souvent y a des étiquettes, des machins avec de la colle.

because often there are labels, stuff with glue. 

Captions 58-59, Sophie et Patrice - Les lampes de Sophie

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C'est quoi ce machin-là?

What is that thing?

Je savais que ça n'allait pas être le single, le machin...

I knew that it was not going to be the single, the whatever...

Caption 110, Watt’s In - Maître Gims : J'me Tire Interview Exclu

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Un truc is another informal way of saying une chose. It's basically synonymous with un machin:

Mais y a un truc aussi qui se faisait avant,

But there was another thing that was done before,

c'est que la police, ils intervenaient au collège...

it's that the police went in to the middle school...

Captions 16-17, Banlieues françaises - jeunes et policiers, l'impossible réconciliation?

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Et on va aller acheter des trucs.

And we're gonna buy some stuff.

Caption 59, Actus Quartier - Fête de quartier Python-Duvernois

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But unlike un machin, un truc can also mean "a trick":

Tout ça, c'est des trucs pour nous faire travailler encore plus!

All these are tricks to make us work even more!

Caption 42, Il était une fois: Notre Terre - 25. Technologies

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And there are a couple of idioms with truc that can't be replaced with machin: 

Je n'aime pas faire la fête. Ce n'est pas mon truc.

I don't like partying. It's not my thing.

Chacun son truc!

To each his own!

Likewise, there's one idiom that only uses machin:

Et quand je dis un grand ancien,

And when I say a great elder,

ça veut pas dire un vieux machin, pas du tout.

that doesn't mean an old so-and-so, not at all.

Captions 55-57, Uderzo et Goscinny - 1968

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Un vieux machin is a grumpy old man, an old fogey. 

You can even use machin and truc as proper nouns when you don't know or can't remember someone's name. In this case they're capitalized:

Demande à Machin* de t'aider.

Demande à Truc de t'aider.

Ask what's-his-name to help you.

*As a proper noun, Machin becomes Machine in the feminine (Demande à Machine de t'aider/Ask what's-her-name to help you). Truc doesn't change.

There's also another expression you can use when you don't know someone's name: Monsieur Untel/Madame Unetelle: 

Demande à Monsieur Untel/Madame Unetelle de t'aider.

Ask Mr./Ms. so-and-so to help you.

So when you don't know the name of something or someone, or you're just talking about "stuff" in general, machin and truc are the words to use.