You can now build any sentence French grammar allows. What still marks you as a learner is that your French is literal. Native speakers reach constantly for expressions figĂ©es â fixed phrases whose meaning has nothing to do with their parts. Avoir un poil dans la main is not about hair. It means you are bone idle.
Learn them whole, never word by word. And learn them with their register â an idiom that delights your friends can be badly wrong in an interview.
French does an enormous amount of idiomatic work with body parts. These are the most frequent.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| coĂ»ter les yeux de la tĂȘte | koo-tay lay zyuh duh lah TET | to cost an arm and a leg |
| avoir un poil dans la main | ah-vwahr uhn pwahl dahn lah MAN | to be bone idle |
| mettre les pieds dans le plat | metr lay pee-ay dahn luh PLAH | to put one's foot in it |
| casser les pieds Ă quelqu'un | kah-say lay pee-ay ah kel-KUHN | to annoy someone |
| avoir le bras long | ah-vwahr luh brah LOHN | to have connections |
| se creuser la tĂȘte | suh kruh-zay lah TET | to rack one's brains |
| avoir la tĂȘte ailleurs | ah-vwahr lah tet ah-YUHR | to have one's mind elsewhere |
| coup de main | koo duh MAN | a helping hand |
| en avoir plein le dos | ahn nah-vwahr plan luh DOH | to be sick of it |
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| poser un lapin | po-zay uhn lah-PAN | to stand someone up |
| donner sa langue au chat | do-nay sah lahng oh SHAH | to give up guessing |
| revenir Ă ses moutons | ruh-vuh-neer ah say moo-TOHN | to get back to the point |
| avoir d'autres chats Ă fouetter | ah-vwahr dohtr shah ah fway-TAY | to have other fish to fry |
| quand les poules auront des dents | kahn lay pool o-rohn day DAHN | when pigs fly |
| appeler un chat un chat | ah-play uhn shah uhn SHAH | to call a spade a spade |
| une taupe | ĂŒn TOHP | a mole (spy) |
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tomber dans les pommes | tohn-bay dahn lay POM | to faint |
| avoir la pĂȘche | ah-vwahr lah PESH | to be full of energy |
| raconter des salades | rah-kohn-tay day sah-LAHD | to tell tall tales |
| c'est la fin des haricots | say lah fan day zah-ree-KOH | that's the last straw |
| mettre du beurre dans les Ă©pinards | metr dĂŒ buhr dahn lay zay-pee-NAR | to make ends meet more easily |
| en faire tout un fromage | ahn fair too tuhn fro-MAHZH | to make a big fuss |
| ce n'est pas de la tarte | suh nay pah duh lah TART | it's no picnic |
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| avoir le cafard | ah-vwahr luh kah-FAR | to feel down | courant |
| en avoir marre | ahn nah-vwahr MAR | to be fed up | familier |
| ĂȘtre Ă l'ouest | etr ah LWEST | to be spaced out | familier |
| faire la grasse matinée | fair lah grahs mah-tee-NAY | to have a lie-in | courant |
| ça marche | sah MARSH | works for me / OK | courant |
| ça y est | sah ee AY | there we go / that's it | courant |
| n'importe quoi | nan-port KWAH | nonsense / whatever | courant |
| tant pis / tant mieux | tahn PEE / tahn mee-UH | too bad / so much the better | courant |
| du coup | dĂŒ KOO | so, as a result | familier (very frequent) |
Du coup deserves special mention: it has become so common as a spoken filler that it is now a running joke in France. Use it once per conversation, not once per sentence.
French speakers usually quote proverbs in part, trusting you to complete them. Recognising the opening is what matters.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| L'habit ne fait pas le moine. | lah-bee nuh fay pah luh MWAHN | Don't judge a book by its cover. |
| Mieux vaut tard que jamais. | mee-uh voh tar kuh zhah-MAY | Better late than never. |
| Petit Ă petit, l'oiseau fait son nid. | puh-tee ah puh-tee lwah-zoh fay sohn NEE | Little by little, it gets done. |
| Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours. | eel nuh foh pah vahndr lah poh duh LOORS | Don't count your chickens. |
| C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron. | say tahn for-zhahn kohn duh-vee-en for-zhuh-ROHN | Practice makes perfect. |
| Qui ne risque rien n'a rien. | kee nuh reesk ree-en nah ree-EN | Nothing ventured, nothing gained. |
| Chacun voit midi Ă sa porte. | shah-kuhn vwah mee-dee ah sah PORT | Everyone sees things their own way. |
Notice that two of these are grammar lessons in disguise: C'est en forgeant⊠is a gérondif (Lesson 12), and Il ne faut pas⊠is the impersonal of Lesson 6.
You will meet unfamiliar ones constantly. Three tactics:
| Tactic | Applied to « Il a pris ses jambes à son cou. » |
|---|---|
| Read the whole situation, not the phrase | Someone was frightened and the next sentence says he was gone. |
| Look for the emotional colour | Legs + neck + sudden = urgency, escape. |
| Accept an approximate meaning and move on | "He ran for it." Close enough to follow the story. |
Never translate the parts and hope. Prendre ses jambes Ă son cou literally means "to take one's legs to one's neck", which tells you nothing at all.
Most of the idioms above are pan-francophone and safe in France. Regional colour exists too â the south adds its own (pĂ©guer for sticky), and du coup is the defining verbal tic of contemporary French speech, to the point of parody.
QuĂ©bec has a rich parallel stock, much of it weather- or winter-flavoured: attache ta tuque ("hold on tight", literally "tie your hat on"), il fait frette (it's freezing), avoir de la misĂšre Ă (to struggle to), c'est de valeur (that's a shame), se pogner le beigne (to laze about), ĂȘtre dans le jus (to be snowed under). And beware Ă©cĆurant: with a grimace it means disgusting, with a grin it means fantastic.
Answer in English, one or two words.
1. Avoir un poil dans la main describes someone who is:
2. How should you learn idioms?
3. A QuĂ©bĂ©cois friend says your cooking is Ă©cĆurant, smiling. They mean: