7 Essential French Idioms to Sound Like a True Native
The Secret Language of Native Speakers
If you translate an English idiom into French word-for-word, you will probably just end up confusing everyone. (Please do not tell a French person it is "raining cats and dogs"!) To truly bridge the gap between textbook French and conversational fluency, you need to learn les expressions idiomatiques. Here are seven of the most common and colorful French idioms you will hear on the streets of Paris.
1. Avoir le cafard
Literal Translation: To have the cockroach.
Real Meaning: To feel down, depressed, or have the blues.
When it is raining for the fourth day in a row and you are missing home, you don't say you are sad. You say you have the cockroach. "Avec ce temps gris, j'ai vraiment le cafard aujourd'hui."
2. Donner sa langue au chat
Literal Translation: To give one's tongue to the cat.
Real Meaning: To give up trying to guess the answer.
The English equivalent is "I give up," usually used when playing a trivia game or trying to solve a riddle. "Je ne trouve pas la solution. Je donne ma langue au chat !"
3. Poser un lapin (à quelqu'un)
Literal Translation: To put a rabbit (to someone).
Real Meaning: To stand someone up / to ghost them.
If you are waiting at a café for a date or a friend and they never show up, they put a rabbit on you. "Je l'ai attendu pendant une heure, il m'a posé un lapin !"
4. Appeler un chat un chat
Literal Translation: To call a cat a cat.
Real Meaning: To call a spade a spade / to tell it like it is.
The French love their cat idioms! This is used when you want to speak bluntly and honestly about a situation without sugarcoating it. "Il faut appeler un chat un chat : cette réunion était une perte de temps."
5. Avoir un poil dans la main
Literal Translation: To have a hair in the hand.
Real Meaning: To be incredibly lazy.
The imagery here is hilarious: someone is so lazy that a hair has had time to grow out of the palm of their hand because they never use it to work. "Mon colocataire ne fait jamais la vaisselle, il a un poil dans la main."
6. Coûter les yeux de la tête
Literal Translation: To cost the eyes of the head.
Real Meaning: To cost an arm and a leg.
While English speakers part with their limbs for expensive items, the French part with their eyes. "Je ne vais pas acheter cette voiture, elle coûte les yeux de la tête."
7. Être dans les pommes
Literal Translation: To be in the apples.
Real Meaning: To faint or pass out.
If someone collapses from exhaustion or shock, they are in the apples. "Il a vu du sang et il est tombé dans les pommes."
Want to build exam-ready vocabulary around this topic? Check out our TCF vocabulary lists.