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 |
to think really hard / to try to remember something
("to dig into your head") |
| 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 |
Corrections by Sylvain Bouchard
Many of these idioms were provided by Jan Underwood, and other were provided by Ludovic Martin
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/
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