Idioms Flashcards
It’s like giving jam to pigs (giving something valuable to those who don’t deserve it?)
C’est donner de la confiture aux cochons.
eating like a pig (eating with poor manners)
manger comme un cochon
A pig couldn’t find its piglets (when referring to a dirty room)
un cochon n’y retrouverait pas ses petits
Don’t wake that sleeping cat (don’t stir up something)
Ne réveillez pas le chat qui dort
A cat in your throat (used when one’s voice is hoarse)
un chat dans la gorge
Call a cat a cat (call it like it is)
appelez un chat un chat
When the cat’s away, the mice start to play dance (when no one’s watching, people will do whatever they want)
Quand le chat est parti, les souris dansent.
To give your tongue to the cat (to give up)
donner sa langue au chat
Sleep like marmots (sleep heavy)
dormir comme une marmotte
when chickens have teeth (referring to something that is very unlikely to ever happen)
quand les poules auront des dents
like a chicken with a knife (confused)
t’es comme une poule qui a trouvé un couteau
Sell the bear’s skin before it’s been killed. (celebrating a success before it’s final/certain)
Vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué.
a badly licked bear (referring to an uncouth or unsociable person)
un ours mal léché
To take the bull by the horns (to proactively take an opportunity)
Prendre le taureau par les cornes
sly as a fox (very sneaky)
rusé comme un renard
stubborn as a mule (very stubborn)
têtu comme une mule
to be given a rabbit (to be stood up)
se faire poser un lapin
to have the cockroach (to be depressed or down in the dumps)
avoir le cafard
to drown the fish (to bamboozle or fool someone)
noyer le poisson
to have a spider on the ceiling (equivalent to bats in the belfry??)
avoir une araignée au plafond
A drink, or I kill the dog! (said when really thirsty, i.e. in a tavern/bar)
À boire, ou j’tue le chien !
to good cat, good rat (tit for tat)
À bon chat, bon rat
Ducky cold (used when it’s really cold)
Faire un froid de canard
As frank as a backtracking donkey (when someone’s lying)
Être franc comme un âne qui recule
jump from the rooster to the donkey (refers to moving quickly from one subject to another)
Passer du coq à l’âne
to bridle a donkey by the tail (referring to doing something that lacks common sense)
Brider l’âne par la queue
to be as bored as a dead rat (to be very, very bored)
S’ennuyer comme un rat mort
to let the merinos piss (to not react to provocation)
Laisser pisser le mérinos
The cow! (My God!)
La vache !
Speak of the wolf (and you see its tail) (Speak of the devil, and he appears)
Quand on parle du loup (on en voit la queue)
It’s raining like a pissing cow.
Il pleut comme vache qui pisse.
