French Idiomatic Expressions

Question 1

Avoir le cafard

Answer 1

To have the blues (literally, “to have the cockroach”)

Question 2

Avoir la pêche

Answer 2

To be full of energy (literally, “to have the peach”)

Question 3

Avoir la tête dans les nuages

Answer 3

To have one’s head in the clouds

Question 4

Avoir un poil dans la main

Answer 4

To be lazy (literally, “to have a hair in the hand”)

Question 5

Avoir le cœur sur la main

Answer 5

To be generous (literally, “to have the heart on the hand”)

Question 6

Avoir le feu au derrière

Answer 6

To be in a hurry (literally, “to have fire on the behind”)

Question 7

Avoir la flemme

Answer 7

To be lazy (colloquially, “to have the laziness”)

Question 8

Avoir du chien

Answer 8

To be attractive (literally, “to have some dog”)

Question 8

Avoir la gueule de bois

Answer 8

To have a hangover (literally, “to have the wood face”)

Question 9

Avoir la langue bien pendue

Answer 9

To be talkative (literally, “to have the tongue well-hung”)

Question 10

Avoir une faim de loup

Answer 10

To be very hungry (literally, “to have a wolf hunger”)

Question 11

Avoir le bras long

Answer 11

To have influence (literally, “to have a long arm”)

Question 12

Avoir un chat dans la gorge

Answer 12

To have a frog in one’s throat (literally, “to have a cat in the throat”)

Question 12

Avoir le nez fin

Answer 12

To have a good sense of smell (literally, “to have a fine nose”)

Question 13

Avoir le diable au corps

Answer 13

To be very lively (literally, “to have the devil in the body”)

Question 14

Avoir un cœur d’artichaut

Answer 14

To fall in love easily (literally, “to have an artichoke heart”)

Question 15

Avoir la main verte

Answer 15

To have a green thumb (literally, “to have the green hand”)

Question 16

Avoir un trou de mémoire

Answer 16

To have a lapse in memory (literally, “to have a hole in memory”)

Question 17

Avoir le compas dans l’œil

Answer 17

To have a good eye for measurement or estimation (literally, “to have the compass in the eye”)

Question 18

Avoir le moral à zéro

Answer 18

To be feeling down (literally, “to have morale at zero”)

Question 19

Être au bout du rouleau

Answer 19

To be at the end of one’s tether (literally, “to be at the end of the roll”)

Question 19

Être dans la lune

Answer 19

To be daydreaming (literally, “to be in the moon”)

Question 20

Être sur son trente-et-un

Answer 20

To be dressed to the nines (literally, “to be on one’s thirty-one”)

Question 21

Être à la bourre

Answer 21

To be running late (colloquially, “to be at the beet”)

Question 22

Être à l’ouest

Answer 22

To be out of it (literally, “to be in the west”)

Question 23

Être un cordon-bleu

Answer 23

To be a great cook (literally, “to be a blue ribbon”)

Question 24

Être aux anges

Answer 24

To be over the moon (literally, “to be with the angels”)

Question 25

Être dans de beaux draps

Answer 25

To be in a tricky situation (literally, “to be in beautiful sheets”)

Question 26

Être en train de

Answer 26

To be in the process of (literally, “to be in train of”)

Question 27

Être un vrai mouton

Answer 27

To be a follower (literally, “to be a real sheep”)