French idioms

A collection of idiomatic expressions in French with English equivalents and translations.

Idioms	English versions
faire la tête	to sulk ("to do the head")
garder la tête froide	to keep one's cool ("to keep the head cool")
se creuser la tête / les méninges	to think really hard / to try to remember something ("to dig into your head / brain")
se casser la tête	to go to a lot of trouble; to worry about sb/sth ("to break your head")
coûter les yeux de la tête	to cost an arm and a leg ("to cost the eyes from the head")
se mettre le doigt dans l'œil	to put your foot in it - to make a mistake ("to put your finger in your eye")
être bouche bée	to be open-mouthed; gapping; flabbergasted ("to be mouth open")
être sans voix	to be speechless ("to be without voice")
donner sa langue au chat	to give up ("to give one's tongue to the cat")
avoir (un mot) sur le bout de la langue	to have (a word) on the tip of your tongue
avoir les dent longues	to be ambitious; to have lofty goals ("to have long teeth")
avoir un poil dans la main	to be lazy; to avoid work ("to have a hair in the hand")
manger sur le pouce	to grab a bite to eat; to eat on the run ("to eat on the thumb")
ne rien faire de ses dix doigts	to be lazy ("to do nothing with one's ten fingers")
prendre ses jambes à son cou	to take to one's heels; to run away ("to take one's legs to one's neck)
casser les pieds à quelqu'un	to get on someone's nerves ("to break someone's feet)
enlever une épine du pied à quelqu'un	to help / get someone out of a fix ("to remove a thorn from someone's foot)
couper la poire en deux	to meet someone halfway ("to cut the pear in two")
pédaler dans la semoule	to go round in circles / to get nowhere fast ("to pedal in the semolina")
tomber dans les pommes	to faint / pass out ("to fall in the apples")
tondre des œufs	to be cheap / a skinflint ("to mow/crop/shear the eggs")
sucrer les fraises	to be a bit doddery ("to sugar the strawberries")
c'est la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase	the straw that broke the camel's back ("it's the drop of water that made the vase overflow")
casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu'un	to gossip about someone behind their back ("to break some sugar on someone's back")
appuyer sur le champignon	to drive very fast; to accelerate; to floor it; to put the pedal to the metal ("to press on the mushroom")
étre dans le pétrin	to be in a mess / a jam; in serious trouble ("to be in the kneading-trough")
avoir la tête dans le guidon	to be overwhelmed; to be striving; to be working hard ("to have one's head in the handlebars")
mettre son grain de sel	to butt in; to put one's oar in; to make one's point ("to put one's grain of salt")
se regarder le nombril	to be egocentric; pretentious; selfish; to think the world/universe revolves around oneself ("to gaze at your navel")
être soupe au lait	to be quick-tempered ("to be milky soup")
prendre la mouche	to go off in a huff ("to take the fly")
faire mouche	to score a bull's-eye ("to do a fly/button")
rouler à tombeau ouvert	to go at breakneck speed ("to roll with the tomb open")
sentir le sapin	to have one foot in the grave; have a graveyard cough; be not long for this world ("to smell of fir trees") - fir is used for coffins
(faire quelque chose avec) les doigts dans le nez	as easy as falling off a log ("[as easy as putting] one's fingers in one's nose")
tomber de sommeil	to fall asleep; to be asleep on one's feet; to be very sleepy
coûter un œil / un bras	to cost an arm and a leg ("to cost un eye / an arm")
(c'est) une autre paire de manches	(it's) another kettle of fish, (it's) a whole different story ("another pair of arms")
avoir les pieds et les poings liés	to have one’s hands tied ("to have one's feet and fists tied")
avoir le cul entre deux chaises	to sit on the fence ("to have one's arse between two chairs")
avoir d’autres chats à fouetter	to have other fish to fry ("to have other cats to whip")
Être comme un poisson dans l’eau	to be like a pig in clover/to take to something like a duck to water ("to be like a fish in the water")
taper dans le mille	to hit the bull’s eye/hit the nail on the head ("to hit 1,000")
mettre du beurre dans les épinards	to give one a bit more money (possibly ‘to put jam on the bread’/’to put bread on the table’..?) ("to put butter on the spinach")
être sur la paille	to be skint ("to be on the straw")

Idioms were provided by Jan Underwood, Ludovic Martin and Lynette Raven. Corrections by Sylvain Bouchard

Hear some French idioms:

Brought to you by FrenchPod101

More French idioms
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:French_idioms
http://www.one.under.btinternet.co.uk/list.html
https://frenchtogether.com/french-idioms/

- Learn French with FrenchPod101
- French Uncovered - Learn French Through the Power of Story
- Frantastique: French learning Online
- Learn French with Glossika
- Learn French now at Rocket Languages!
- French learning software
- Learn French with LinguaLift
- French Tutors
- Learn French with Lingoda

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.

More idioms

Idioms in individual languages

Multilingual pages

[top]

Why not share this page:

Learn languages for free on Duolingo

The Fastest Way to Learn Korean with KoreanClass101

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]