Questions tagged [expressions-idiomatiques]
Phrases ou expressions dont les mots portent une signification différente du sens littéral.
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Conveying "learn/know enough (sth) to be dangerous"
This is something that it has puzzled me for some time. I'm feeling that a word-by-word translation would not work in French. How can one convey colloquially in French:
Learn (or know) Enough to Be ...
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Emploi de "connaître bibliquement"
De nos jours, peut-on employer
connaître qqn bibliquement
pour dire
faire l'amour avec qqn
?
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Quel article après le construction « [suj.] + (ne?) + [v.b.] + que » ?
J'ai entendu cette construction plusieurs fois dans le discours quotidien, mais je n'arrive pas à trouver la règle exacte. Par exemple, je crois que je peux dire :
Je veux que du saumon pour le dîner ...
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Shake that ass = secouez ce cul?
How would you say shake that ass as in shaking your ass to the music in french? Would secouez ce cul be adequate?
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Conveying "Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime."
Is there a French equivalent of
"Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime."
?
I've seen one-to-one renderings but I'm wondering if it exists a ...
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3
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Ce que c’est que
I’ve been seeing this construction in several oldish texts, for example in Nerval’s Faust:
Je te donnerai le conseil court et bon d’en faire autant, afin de pouvoir, affranchi de tes chaînes, goûter ...
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C'est chaud = It's crazy ?
I have heard the following dialogue in the TV series Unité 42:
J'arrive pas y croire. Bob...
C'est chaud.
Context: A team of murder investigators are talking about Bob, his fellow investigator who ...
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Is there a French equivalent of "on a Kick"?
One of the lesser used English definitions of kick is
5c: pursuit of an absorbing or obsessive new interest —usually used with on1
Is there a French equivalent? My French is super rusty, and I did ...
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Comment puis-je commencer un courrier?
Je suis à la recherche de quelques phrases utiles que je pourrais utiliser pour commencer un échange électronique avec quelqu’un sachant que je le connais déjà. Par exemple :
Bonjour,
Je reprends ...
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What is a French equivalent for the office slang phrase "knife and fork it (the problem)"?
Please, help me to find an appropriate equivalent!
Edit: To "knife and fork" a problem, in the English language, means to "give it a try," perhaps without expecting good results, ...
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Autre signification de "Fossoyeur" dans le nom du youtubeur "Le Fossoyeur de Films"?
Le Fossoyeur de Films est le nom d'un youtubeur Français qui parles de filmes. Je vois bien le sens littéraire de "Fossoyeur", mais comment le comprendre on contexte? Est-ce tout simplement ...
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Conveying "let's agree to disagree"
What are some common ways to convey in French: "Let's agree to disagree"?
Is
Disons qu'on est pas d'accord
idiomatic?
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Conveying "on board" (involved in a project or organization or working for a company)
The idiom "on board" may be used to imply involvement in a project or organization, or working for a company. E.g.
Welcome to the team. It’s great/nice/good to have you on board.
What are ...
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Conveying "to be in someone's good books"
The idiom "to be in someone's good books" means (informally) to be in a state in which one is liked or are treated nicely by someone. For example:
He's trying to get back in his boss's good ...
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1
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Is "Le poids de l'entourage" a French idiom or expression?
I was reading a French text and saw this sentence:
Le poids de l'entourage est parfois difficile à gérer dans l'éducation de ces enfants
but I have a feeling that the translation is very odd, so I ...
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Conveying "off your rocker" (slang for silly, crazy)
If you say (informally) that someone is off their rocker, you mean that that person is crazy, silly, etc.. E.g.
You're off your rocker if you think I'm going to climb that mountain.
How can one ...
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1
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How to convey "to teach someone the ropes"
The idiom to teach someone the ropes means to teach someone how to do something, especially a job. E.g.
"Jack has been here for years – he’ll show you the ropes."
Trying to convey the ...
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1
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"Trente-deux positions" in Inventaire by Jacques Prévert
I'm reading the poem Inventaire by Jacques Prévert, where I think I am able to understand most of its meaning (superficial as it may be), except a phrase in the second-to-last stanza:
deux sœurs ...
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3
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Usage de "l’avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt"
Searching how to convey in French the meaning of the English idiom the early bird catches the worm I found l'avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt. E.g.
The admissions in this college get filled ...
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Conveying "out of the blue" (completely unexpected)
If something happens out of the blue, it is completely unexpected; e.g.
I hadn’t heard from Georges for years; then I got a letter out of the blue.
Google Translate gives
Je n'avais pas entendu ...
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Conveying "Go bust"
The idiom "go bust" (informal) means to spend or lose all of one's money; to go broke. If a company goes bust, it goes bankrupt. Linguee gives faire faillite as translation but it sounds to ...
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"Greener pastures" and "pâturages plus verts"
He worked there for two years before leaving for greener pastures.
He decided it was time to move on to greener pastures.
"Greener pastures" is an idiom meaning a new better, more ...
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2
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111
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"entre le marteau et l'enclume"
Pour traduire :
It's difficult to see how to get out of this situation because we're between a rock and a hard place.
j'ai dis :
Il est difficile de voir comment sortir de cette situation car οn ...
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1
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Conveying "bigger than life"
The other day I was talking about Freddie Mercury. I wanted to convey:
Having an outrageously flamboyant stage persona he was a larger-than-life artist.
I said
Ayant un personnage de scène ...
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5
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Est-ce que « laisse tomber » est impoli ou agressif ?
Je me plante toujours quand je veux dire “never mind” en français.
Par exemple, l’autre jour, j’étais à la caisse chez Monoprix et je voulais chercher quelque chose que je m'étais rendu compte avoir ...
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Is there a similar saying to "a drowning man will clutch at a straw" in French?
It is about
someone who is in a very difficult situation, and who will take any
available opportunity to improve it
An example:
Facing the possibility that his marriage might be over, John began
...
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The meaning of the french verb "Zoner" & the adjective "tanqué"
In the French song "On fleek", Eva said "Reste avec tes grosses folles, t'es bon qu'à zoner", so what's the meaning of "zoner" in this phrase and in general too and what'...
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The meaning of "v. Prendre le seum"
In the French song "On fleek", Eva said "T'as pris le seum et tu t'agites" so what's the meaning of this sentence and what's the difference between "v.avoir + le seum" &...
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2
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J'ai bouffé du classique
In the movie Blind Date/Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément, there is the following line: "Mon père était concierge à l'opera. J'ai bouffé du classique toute en mon enfance." Is "J'ai bouffé ...
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Conveying "How come...?" (expressing complain)
Deepl/Google Translate convey how come idiom in questions expressing complain like
How come nobody's ever on time to meetings?
as
Comment se fait-il que personne ne soit jamais à l'heure aux ...
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2
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The meaning of "se faire"
What's the meaning of "se faire" or "me faire" ?
Il me fait le philosophe.
I want to know the meaning of this sentence.
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3
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Translation of "two for one"
Is there a French expression for "killing 2 birds with 1 stone?" I believe that in general, "2 for 1" (e.g. there is a 2 for 1 sale on t-shirts) comes from that English idiom.
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What is the meaning of "grand large"
I encountered the expression
des ballades au grand large.
What does it mean? What is its etymology?
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How does "du balai" get to mean "go away"?
I believe the expression "du balai" means literally "of the broom".
How did it acquire the meaning of "go away!" or "get lost!"?
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What's the meaning of "C'est le sancho" ?
What's the meaning of "C'est le sancho"?
I want to know the meaning of this French expression.
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Sauter - idiomatic meanings
Donnez au croupier la possibilité de sauter tout seul !
This use of 'sauter' seems to imply an idiomatic meaning, something like get himself in a fix, or give himself a length of rope
Or does it ...
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When did the expression "dernier cri" start to be used in the context of fashion trends?
In a recent question in the Spanish language site we have debated about the origin of the Spanish expression último grito in the context of fashion trends. The first examples of it seem to come from ...
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What's the meaning of "Bien sûr je veux mon palais mais racontez pas vos salades"
I cannot understand what the meaning of "Bien sûr je veux mon palais mais racontez pas vos salades" is.
I could not understand the first part of the phrase because I know that "raconter des salades" ...
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Mettre du beurre dans les épinards
After doing some light research I found idiomatic translations such as
we could use the extra
to grease the wheels
make lemons into lemonade
put butter on your bread
I'm somewhat confused. I ...
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1
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Expression I cannot figure out
In the phrase
Les garçons ont passé leur examen et tous l'ont eu.
I understand that it means
The boys took their tests and all of them passed.
But what I can't figure out is what is the ...
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How to say "I'm leaving France"?
I was reading the following article about the different types of "leaving".
It is still unclear to me how to say "I am leaving France".
Google trans gives me
Je quitte la France.
...
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4
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Comment exprimer/transposer « (like) a fly in amber » ?
Captain's log, supplemental. We remain like a fly in amber trapped in
the void. We have encountered a vessel which appears to be the USS
Yamato. All its systems are shown as functioning, yet it ...
user19187
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3
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What is « en » in « J'en ai marre de » ?
Je sais que en général le pronom « en » peut remplacer la construction « de + nom. », donc, je suis un peu confus parce que dans la phrase « j'en ai marre de » on a déjà un « en », et je ne sais pas ...
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Is « j'allais » idiomatic in French?
In English, if we had intended to do something, but perhaps had not yet done it, we might say "I was going to do [that]." I've seen this translated literally in French when watching subtitled shows - «...
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How to convey the sense of "scare the bejesus out of me"
Scare the bejesus out of sb: to frighten, annoy, bore, etc. someone very much [Cambridge].
Scare the bejesus out of sb: To shock or frighten one very suddenly or severely. ("Bejesus," a mild ...
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Origine de l'expression « pain amer »
« Pain amer » seems to be a common enough expression that movies and books are given this title, and it is the subject of this wordplay of Camus' in La peste:
La souffrance des enfants était notre ...
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Who would doubt it?
How does one render in French expressions such as "Who would doubt it?", "Who would think so?" More specifically, is it more appropriate to use the conditional tense (Qui douterait ça ?"), or the ...
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Usage of "hier" to convey "yesterday" as in "I need this report yesterday"
Yesterday has an idiomatic usage which is basically a synonym for "as soon as possible".
I need those reports, and I need them yesterday. ≈ I need them ASAP.
We want to see them in a ...
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Comment exprimer « to flip the script » ?
J'ai entendu l'expression anglaise (to) flip the script, « (slang) to reverse a situation, especially by doing something unexpected » (Wiktionnaire). Le contexte c'était la compétition et le style des ...
user19187
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Les expressions « « lâche-moi les baskets » et « s'accrocher aux basques de quelqu'un » sont-elles reliées ?
On a l'expression populaire « lâche-moi les baskets » pour « laisse-moi tranquille » (Larousse en ligne). Par ailleurs on a l'expression familière « se pendre, s'accrocher aux basques de quelqu'un » c'...
user19187