French - Idioms Flashcards
To daydream
(lit. to be in the moon)
Être dans la lune
Super expensive
(lit. it costs an arm)
Ça coûte un bras
to stay in bed late until morning
(lit. to do a fat morning)
Faire la grasse matinée
to fall madly in love for the first time
(lit. a lightning strike)
Coup de foudre
it’s a mess
C’est le bordel
to aggravate a situation
(lit. to add oil to fire)
Mettre de l’huile sur le feu.
it’s the last straw
(lit. it’s the drop of water that overflows the vase)
C’est la goutte de l’eau qui fait déborder le vase.
it’s easy
(lit. it’s a piece of cake)
C’est du gâteau
to face a problem head-on
(lit. to take a bull by its horns)
Prendre le taureau par les cornes
to be kind-hearted
(lit. to have the heart on the hand)
Avoir le cœur sur la main
time will tell
(he who lives will see)
Qui vivra verra.
to have more important things to do
(to have more cats to whip)
Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter.
to complicate things unneccesarily
(to look for noon at 2PM)
Chercher midi à quatorze heures
to speak one’s mind/to be outspoken
(Not to have one’s tongue in one’s pocket.)
Ne pas avoir sa langue dans sa poche
To challenge conventions
(To break the codes)
Casser les codes
it’s raining heavily
(raining ropes)
Il pleut des cordes
to be in a bad mood
(to have a cockroach)
Avoir le cafard.
To enjoy the good times while they last
(to eat one’s white bread)
Manger son pain blanc.
To take advantage of an opportunity
(to strike an iron while it’s hot)
Battre le fer tant qu’il est chaud
To ignore
(to turn a deaf ear)
Faire la sourde oreille.
It’s unlikely.
(when hens have teeth)
Quand les poules auront des dents
To avoid a problem
(to act like an ostrich)
Faire l’autruche
To be fed up
Avoir le ras de bol
To be in good arms
Entre de bonnes mains
