French Idioms

Question 1

appuyer sur le champignon

Answer 1

to go very fast, accelerate (lit: to push on the mushroom)

Question 2

avoir d’autres chats à fouetter

Answer 2

to have better things to do; other fish to fry (lit: to have other cats to whip)

Question 3

avoir un chat dans la gorge

Answer 3

to have a frog in your throat (lit: to have a cat in your throat)

Question 4

avoir les dents longues

Answer 4

to be ambitious (lit: to have long teeth)

Question 5

être dans ses petits souliers

Answer 5

to not feel comfortable (lit: to be in little shoes)

Question 6

être haut comme trois pommes

Answer 6

to be small (lit: to be high like three apples)

Question 7

faire d’une pierre deux coups

Answer 7

to kill two birds with one stone (lit: to do one stone, two blows)

Question 8

ne pas être dans son assiette

Answer 8

to not feel yourself (lit: to not be in your plate)

Question 9

ne pas être né de la dernière pluie

Answer 9

to not be born yesterday (lit: to not be born with the last rain)

Question 10

passer une nuit blanche

Answer 10

to have a sleepless night (lit: to spend a white night)

Question 11

pendre la crémaillère

Answer 11

to have a house-warming party (lit: to hang a chimney hook)

Question 12

se creuser la tête

Answer 12

to think really hard (lit: to dig in one’s head)

Question 13

se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter

Answer 13

to think oneself is better than everyone else (lit: to come out of Jupiter’s thigh)

Question 14

se mettre le doigt dans l’œil

Answer 14

to make a mistake (lit: to put one’s finger in one’s eye)

Question 15

sucrer les fraises

Answer 15

to be senile, crazy (lit: to sugar the strawberries)

Question 16

tomber dans les pommes

Answer 16

to faint, pass out (lit: to fall in the apples)

Question 17

être maquillé(e) comme une voiture volée

Answer 17

wear too much make up (lit: to be made up like a stolen car)