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French · Vocabulary · B2

French idioms: what they say, and what they mean

An idiom is a fixed phrase whose meaning is not the sum of its words: “to spill the beans” has nothing to do with beans. French has thousands. The 24 below are among the most common in everyday conversation, grouped by the image they use, each with its literal meaning, its real meaning and an example.

How to learn them: picture the literal image, then attach the meaning to it. Learn each idiom in a full sentence, not alone, and use the filter to work through one theme at a time.

LITERAL IMAGE · REAL MEANING REALLY MEANS to have a frog in your throat a hoarse voice avoir un chat dans la gorge to-have a cat in the throat English chose a frog, French a cat: same idea, different animal.
Many French idioms have an English twin with a different image. Spotting the pair makes both easier to remember.
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Food and cooking

tomber dans les pommestom-BAY dahn lay POMliterally: to fall in the apples
Means: to faint · English: to pass out
avoir la pêcheah-VWAR lah PESHliterally: to have the peach
Means: to be full of energy · English: to be full of beans
raconter des saladesrah-kon-TAY day sah-LAHDliterally: to tell salads
Means: to tell lies, tall stories · English: to spin a yarn
c’est du gâteausay dü gah-TOHliterally: it’s some cake
Means: it’s easy · English: it’s a piece of cake
mettre son grain de selMETR son GRAN duh SELliterally: to put one’s grain of salt
Means: to give an unwanted opinion · English: to put one’s oar in
ça ne mange pas de painsah nuh MAHNZH pah duh PANliterally: that doesn’t eat bread
Means: it costs nothing to try · English: there’s no harm in it

Animals

avoir un chat dans la gorgeah-VWAR uhn SHAH dahn lah GORZHliterally: to have a cat in the throat
Means: to be hoarse · English: to have a frog in your throat
poser un lapinpoh-ZAY uhn lah-PANliterally: to put down a rabbit
Means: to stand someone up · English: to stand someone up
quand les poules auront des dentskahn lay POOL oh-RON day DAHNliterally: when hens have teeth
Means: never · English: when pigs fly
avoir d’autres chats à fouetterah-VWAR DOHTR shah ah fweh-TAYliterally: to have other cats to whip
Means: to have more important things to do · English: to have other fish to fry
être une poule mouilléeETR ün POOL moo-YAYliterally: to be a wet hen
Means: to be a coward · English: to be a scaredy-cat
revenons à nos moutonsruh-vuh-NON ah noh moo-TONliterally: let’s return to our sheep
Means: let’s get back to the subject · English: let’s get back to the point

The body

coûter les yeux de la têtekoo-TAY lay-ZYUH duh lah TETliterally: to cost the eyes of the head
Means: to be very expensive · English: to cost an arm and a leg
avoir le bras longah-VWAR luh brah LONliterally: to have the long arm
Means: to be well connected · English: to have friends in high places
ne pas avoir la langue dans sa pochenuh pah-zah-VWAR lah LAHNG dahn sah POSHliterally: not to have one’s tongue in one’s pocket
Means: to speak one’s mind · English: to never be lost for words
mon œil !mon-NUHYliterally: my eye!
Means: I don’t believe you · English: my foot! yeah, right
casser les piedskah-SAY lay PYAYliterally: to break the feet
Means: to annoy someone · English: to get on someone’s nerves
se mettre le doigt dans l’œilsuh METR luh DWAH dahn LUHYliterally: to put the finger in the eye
Means: to be completely wrong · English: to be way off the mark

Time and weather

il pleut des cordeseel pluh day KORDliterally: it rains ropes
Means: it’s pouring · English: it’s raining cats and dogs
passer une nuit blanchepah-SAY ün nwee BLAHNSHliterally: to spend a white night
Means: to not sleep at all · English: to pull an all-nighter
en un clin d’œilahn-nuhn klan DUHYliterally: in a wink of an eye
Means: very quickly · English: in the blink of an eye
tous les trente-six du moistoo lay trahnt-SEES dü MWAHliterally: every thirty-sixth of the month
Means: very rarely · English: once in a blue moon
faire la grasse matinéefair lah grahs mah-tee-NAYliterally: to do the fat morning
Means: to sleep in late · English: to have a lie-in
il fait un froid de canardeel feh-tuhn FRWAH duh kah-NARliterally: it makes a duck’s cold
Means: it’s freezing · English: it’s bitterly cold

Using idioms well

An idiom is a fixed phrase whose meaning is not the sum of its words. The image stays fixed; the verb still changes for person and tense like any other verb.

CHANGES WITH PERSON AND TENSEFIXED Il est tombé dans les pommes “He fainted.” Elle m’a posé un lapin “She stood me up.” eel ay tom-BAY dahn lay POM · el mah poh-ZAY uhn lah-PAN
Swap a fixed word (dans les poires) and the idiom disappears; conjugate the verb freely and it stays.
Match the registerMost of these are familiar or neutral. Use them with friends and colleagues; avoid them in formal letters. See French register.
Keep the grammarIdioms still conjugate: il est tombé dans les pommes, elle m’a posé un lapin. Only the fixed words stay fixed.
Learn the French imageEach language has its own pictures for the same idea: heavy rain is il pleut des cordes, “it’s raining ropes”, in French.

Related guides

Next guideRegisterWhere idioms fit, from familiar to formal. Next guideConnectorsThe other B2 vocabulary set: linking ideas. Next guideFrench listeningHearing idioms in fast speech. Course mapFrench hubThe full course map from A1 to C2.