Do you know French idioms? As an English speaker you might find yourself chasing your tail while trying to get all your ducks in a row so you can get this show on the road.
French speakers have their own collection of weird French expressions that make just as much sense as their English counterparts. Here are a few common ones to stuff in your vocabulary rucksack.
French idioms:
“Perdre la boule”
- Literal meaning: “To lose your ball”
- What it really means: To lose your head
“Ce n’est pas la mer à boire”
- Literal meaning: “It’s not like you have to drink the ocean”
- What it really means: It’s not difficult
“Faire la grasse matinée”
- Literal meaning: “To have a fat morning”
- What it really means: To sleep in
“Passer une nuit blanche”
- Literal meaning: “To have a white night”
- What it really means: To stay up / awake all night (usually on purpose, not because of insomnia)
“Passer un mauvais quart d’heure”
- Literal meaning: “To have a bad quarter of an hour”
- What it really means: A short, difficult period in one’s life
“Dormir à la belle étoile”
- Literal meaning: “To sleep in the pretty star”
- What it really means: To sleep outside
“Être blanc comme neige”
- Literal meaning: “To be as white as snow”
- What it really means: To be completely innocent
“Faire boule de neige”
- Literal meaning: “To make like a ball of snow”
- What it really means: To get bigger / more important
“Faire du chemin / faire son chemin”
- Literal meaning: “To go along the path / to go along your path”
- What it really means: To make progress
“Mordre la poussière”
- Literal meaning: “To bite the dust”
- What it really means: To suffer a defeat
“Traîner quelqu’un dans la boue”
- Literal meaning: “To drag someone through the mud”
- What it really means: To dirty someone’s reputation
“Se perdre les chèvres”
- Literal meaning: “To lose your goats”
- What it really means: To forget what you were just saying, or lose your place in a conversation. (This isn’t widely used, but there are goats!)
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