French expressions Flashcards
Sortir hors de ses gonds
When someone is so mad that they loose control and melt down
Avoir le verbe haut
To have a haughty tone, to speak loudly, to speak with authority
Ne pas pouvoir piffrer
Cannot stand or stomach
Écrit aux pieds
Clumsily written
Ce mettre sur son 31
To be well dressed
Nid-de-poule
Pothole
Mettre du sucre sur ces fraises
To be senile
Avoir la banane
To smile
Avoir la pêche
To be in good spirits
Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu’un
To criticize someone without them being present
Avoir le cœur d’artichaut
To fall easily in love
Couper les chevelu en quatre
To be too meticulous
Tenir la chandelle
To feel like a third wheel
Prendre la mouche
To be easily offended
En deçà de
Below something, on this side of
Avoir un chat dans la gorge
Struggling to speak physically
Les carrots sont cuites
The situation is irreversibly gone bad
Avoir une araignée sure le plafond
Means someone is eccentric
Comme un cheveu sur la soupe
Very bad timing
Pédaler dans la choucroute
To not know how to proceed
Avoir le melon
To have a big head and full of pride
Être le dindon de la farce
To be the victim in a situation
Il y a anguille sous rouche
Something seems suspect or hidden
Tirer les marrons du feu
To take advantage of a situation while someonelse does the hard work
Être une poule mouillée
To lack courage
C’est la fin des haricots
There is no more hope, all is lost
Faire mouche
Scare a bullseye, hit the target
Être à la bourre
To be late
Pendre la crémaillère
Housewarming
Se tenir à carreau
To watch your step
Reprendre le collier
To get back to work after a break
Tailler à la serpette
Serpette- carving knife
Having big lines and lacking refinement
Battre à plate couture
To resoundingly defeat someone in way that they can never recover
Être sur le qui-vive
To be alert
Avoir de la veine
To be lucky
Haut la main
Easily
S’excuser platement
To humbly apologize
Passer à l’as
To be forgotten, thrown out the window
Ne pas être folichon
To not be a bundle of laughs
Ce faire la main
To learn a craft, to train
En berne
At low levels
Aux trousses de
On the heels of
Peu ou prou
More or less
Être bras cassé
To be incompetent
Se prendre une tôle
To take a beating
Dare-dare
Quickly
Mettre les pieds dans le plat
To speak of something that should be mentioned, make a gaffe
Mettre les pieds à l’étrier
To put yourself in situation to succeed
En sourdine
Softly
Fourches caudines
To be in a disagreeable situation
Mettre à sac
To plunder
Pousser des cris d’orfraie
To scream bloody murder
Orfraie is an eagle
Aux grande dams de
Much to the chagrin of
Une pléiade de
A large number of
En sus
In addition
Tomber des nues
To be flabbergasted
Se payer la tête de qqu
To mock someone, usually without them knowing
Tirer à boulet rouge
To criticize someone strongly
De fil en aiguille
One thing led to another
Se mettre au diapason
To bring yourself up to date
Cousu de fils blanc
A bad and awkward attempt to fix something
Fil rouge
The main idea or theme in a work
De mise
Current, social custom
Bric-à-brac
Hotchpotch
Tomber à pic
To come at the right moment
Casser le morceau
Say what shouldn’t be said
Bon gré, mal gré
Like it or not
Sous la houlette de
Under the guidance of
Houlette- trowel, sheppard/bishop stick
Patti pris
Firm stance, prejudice
Orfèvre en la matière
Expert on the matter
Faire les pieds à qqu
To give a lesson
En sautoir
To show off, to display
Au chapitre
On the topic of
Au premier chef
Primarily
Faire tourner en bourrique
To exasperate
Subject bateau
Unoriginal, already done
Faire faux bond
To disappoint someone
Avoir deux poids deux mesures
To have different rules or standards for different people
Du balai
Ordering someone out
Ne pas y aller main morte
To exaggerate, to go hard
Faire voir toutes les couleurs
To make someone go through many difficult episodes
Pis-aller
Worst case scenario
À rebours
Backwards
Montrer patte blanche
To identify yourself, prove your credentials
Monter au créneau
To engage in the debate/fight
Damer le pion
To get a clear advantage over an adversary
Peine plancher
Mandatory minimum
Sans coup férir
W/o any resistance
Être à cran
To be uptight, on edge
Contrôle au faciès
Racial profiling
Faire florès
To be on everyone’s lips, what people are talking about
S’en balek
To not give a fuck
Courses à l’échalote
Team races where you hold each other’s underwear, a race to outdo each other
Miroirs aux alouettes
Something shiny and attractive, a shiny tool to attract larks
Pince-sans-rire
Deadpan
De la plus belle eau
The best of a genre or type
À l’étroit
To be in a small, tight space. To be on a tight budget or live on very little.
Pouce
Timeout, truce
Être en lice
To be engaged in a contest
Effects de manches
Sleight of hand, grandstanding
Chiffon rouge
Red flag, warning sign
Bon an mal an
Year in, year out
Accoucher une souris
To produce an insignificant result
Faire une passe
To work as prostitue, to take exorbitant sum for work done
Prendre son pied
To take pleasure (usually sexual) in something
Bas de laines
Savings
Tirer sur les bas de laine
To spend savings
Tomber dans l’escarcelle
Fall into the hands of
Noyer le poisson
To avoid answering a question
Oreilles qui sifflent
Someone who is pissed about being criticized while they weren’t present
Grille tarifaire
Paper with company’s services and prices
Être verni
To be lucky
Changer son fusil d’épaule
To change opinions, to change strategies
Pignon sur rue
That a business or person is successful and has good reputation
Faire la malle
To leave, to run off
Au second degré
Offbeat humor, not serious, ironically
À corps défendant
In spite of person’s own wishes that they could do otherwise
Avec les moyens du bord
With what is available
Appel d’air
In draft,domino effect
Rentre dans son lit
To return to normal , based on river flooding
Être au vert
A place to recover and chill away from regular hustle, can be vacation or hiding from cops
Fluctuat nec mergitur
Latin for she rocks but does not sink, Paris city moto
Recevoir une volée de bois verts
To be beaten with a stick, receive toungelashing
Mettre en joue
To point firearm at someone
À l’aune de
In light of
Découvrir le pot aux roses
To discover the truth accidentally
Perdre les pédales
To lose the ability to cope
La vie de ma mère
Putin,
T’as peur
Something where everything is going poorly
Claqué au sol
Something that sucks or is of poor quality
Tej
To be asked to leave, dumped, fired
