A collection of idiomatic expressions in French with English equivalents and translations.
| Idioms | English versions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faire la tête | to sulk ("to do the head") |
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| Garder la tête froide | to keep one's cool ("to keep the head cool") |
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| Se creuser la tête |
to think really hard / to try to remember something ("to dig into your head") |
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| Se casser la tête | to go to a lot of trouble; to worry about sb/sth ("to break your head") |
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| Coûter les yeux de la tête | to cost an arm and a leg ("to cost the eyes from the head") |
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| Se mettre le doigt dans l'œil | To put your foot in it - to make a mistake ("to put your finger in your eye") |
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| être bouche bée | to be open-mouthed; gapping; flabbergasted ("to be mouth open") |
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| être sans voix | to be speechless ("to be without voice") |
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| Donner sa langue au chat | to give up ("to give one's tongue to the cat") |
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| avoir (un mot) sur le bout de la langue | to have (a word) on the tip of your tongue | ||||
| Avoir les dent longues | to be ambitious; to have lofty goals ("to have long teeth") |
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| Avoir un poil dans la main | to be lazy; to avoid work ("to have a hair in the hand") |
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| Manger sur le pouce | to grab a bite to eat; to eat on the run ("to eat on the thumb") |
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| Ne rien faire de ses dix doigts | to be lazy ("to do nothing with one's ten fingers") |
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| Prendre ses jambes à son cou | to take to one's heels; to run away ("to take one's legs to one's neck) |
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| Casser les pieds à quelqu'un | to get on someone's nerves ("to break someone's feet) |
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| Enlever une épine du pied à quelqu'un | to help / get someone out of a fix ("to remove a thorn from someone's foot) |
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| Couper la poire en deux | to meet someone halfway ("to cut the pear in two") |
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| Pédaler dans la semoule | to go round in circles / to get nowhere fast ("to pedal in the semolina") |
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| Tomber dans les pommes | to faint / pass out ("to fall in the apples") |
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| Tondre des œufs | to be cheap / a skinflint ("to mow/crop/shear the eggs") |
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| Sucrer les fraises | to be a bit doddery ("to sugar the strawberries") |
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| C'est la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase | the straw that broke the camel's back ("it's the drop of water that made the vase overflow") |
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| Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu'un | to gossip about someone behind their back ("to break some sugar on someone's back") |
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| Appuyer sur le champignon | to drive very fast; to accelerate; to floor it; to put the pedal to the metal ("to press on the mushroom") |
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| Étre dans le pétrin | to be in a mess / a jam; in serious trouble ("to be in the kneading-trough") |
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| avoir la tête dans le guidon | to be overwhelmed; to be striving; to be working hard ("to have one's head in the handlebars") |
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| mettre son grain de sel | to butt in; to put one's oar in; to make one's point ("to put one's grain of salt") |
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| se regarder le nombril | to be egocentric; pretentious; selfish; to think the world/universe revolves around oneself ("to gaze at your navel") |
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| être soupe au lait | to be quick-tempered ("to be milky soup") |
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| prendre la mouche | to go off in a huff ("to take the fly") |
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| faire mouche | to score a bull's-eye ("to do a fly/button") |
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| rouler à tombeau ouvert | to go at breakneck speed ("to roll with the tomb open") |
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| sentir le sapin | to have one foot in the grave; have a graveyard cough; be not long for this world ("to smell of fir trees") - fir is used for coffins |
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| (faire quelque chose avec) les doigts dans le nez | as easy as falling off a log ("[as easy as putting] one's fingers in one's nose") |
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| tomber de sommeil |
