167 - 10 Common French Idioms (Part 1)

In this lesson, you’ll learn 10 common French idioms. 🍎

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Transcript

Bonjour à tous, hello everyone, welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast. This is episode 167, numéro 167. Today, we’ll learn some fun French idioms. This is part 1, and I’ll do a part 2, with more idioms!

Idioms are phrases with meanings that aren't obvious from the words themselves. It’s not a word for word translation. For example, "break a leg" in English means "good luck," not literally breaking a leg. They add flavor to the language.

Before we start, as always, if you're new to the podcast, welcome! Please make sure you have your lesson's cheat sheet handy, so you can see the spelling of the words while you listen. There are no exercises for this particular episode.

Alright, let’s get straight into it, we have 10 idioms to learn, plus example sentences! Make sure you repeat after me so you can also practice your pronunciation.

• Avoir le cafard 🪳 (To feel down or depressed)

Literal translation: To have the cockroach

Example: Après son départ, j’ai eu le cafard pendant plusieurs jours. (After she left, I felt down for several days.)

• Faire la grasse matinée 😴 (To sleep in)

Literal translation: To do the fat morning

Example: Ils font souvent la grasse matinée le samedi. (They often sleep in on Saturdays.)

• Donner sa langue au chat 🐱 (To give up guessing)

Literal translation: To give one’s tongue to the cat

Example: Tu veux essayer encore une fois ou tu donnes ta langue au chat ? (Do you want to try again one more time, or do you give up?)

• Avoir un coup de foudre ⚡ (To fall in love at first sight)

Literal translation: To have a lightning strike

Example: Il a eu un coup de foudre pour elle dès qu’il l’a vue. (He fell in love with her at first sight.)

• Mettre son grain de sel 🧂 (To give an unsolicited opinion)

Literal translation: To put in one’s grain of salt

Example: Il ne peut pas s’empêcher de mettre son grain de sel dans toutes nos conversations ! (He can’t help but add his opinion to every conversation!)

• Être dans la lune 🌙 (To be daydreaming)

Literal translation: To be in the moon

Example: Pardon, je n’ai pas écouté, j’étais dans la lune. (Sorry, I didn’t listen, I was daydreaming.)

• Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter 🐈 (To have more important things to do)

Literal translation: To have other cats to whip

Example: Je ne peux pas m’occuper de ça maintenant, j’ai d’autres chats à fouetter ! (I can’t take care of that now, I have more important things to do!)

• Se serrer la ceinture 👖 (To spend less money, to be frugal)

Literal translation: To tighten one’s belt

Example: Après nos vacances, il va falloir se serrer la ceinture. (After our vacation, we’ll need to spend less money.)

• Tomber dans les pommes 🍏 (To faint)

Literal translation: To fall into the apples

Example: Je déteste les prises de sang, j’ai failli tomber dans les pommes. (I hate blood tests, I almost fainted.)

• Raconter des salades 🥗 (To tell lies or exaggerated stories)

Literal translation: To tell salads

Example: Ne l’écoute pas, il raconte toujours des salades ! (Don’t listen to him, he’s always making things up!)

Alright, so quick recap’

1. Avoir le cafard 🪳(to feel down or depressed)
2. Faire la grasse matinée 😴 (to sleep in)
3. Donner sa langue au chat 🐱 (to give up guessing)
4. Avoir un coup de foudre ⚡ (to fall in love at first sight)
5. Mettre son grain de sel 🧂(to give an unsolicited opinion)
6. Être dans la lune 🌙 (to be daydreaming)
7. Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter 🐈 (to have more important things to do)
8. Se serrer la ceinture 👖(to spend less money, to be frugal)
9. Tomber dans les pommes 🍏 (to faint)
10. Raconter des salades 🥗 (to tell lies or exaggerated stories)

Et voilà! That wraps up today’s episode on French idioms. We’ll do a part 2 soon, with more idioms because there are soooo many in French. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. I’ll chat with you next week! À bientôt. Bye.