French expressions and how to use them

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French are famous for their elaborate expressions which allow them to convey a range of emotions with lashings of creativity. So if you truly want to fit in and speak like a local, here are some top French expressions to learn and when to use them.

• Quirky French expressions

• Angry French expressions

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Quirky French expressions

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. A French person won’t comment on your ‘broken French’ but they will let you know you speak French like a Spanish cow. Here are some other quirky French expressions to add a splash of color and humor to your language-learning experience:

Faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French won’t tell you that ‘you’re going a bit far’, they’ll tell you not to ‘push grandma in stinging nettle’.

Yoyoter de la cafetière

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French are not ‘crazy’, instead they ‘play yoyo with the coffee pot’.

Faire avaler des couleuvres à quelqu’un

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French don’t ‘lie’, they ‘make someone swallow grass snakes’.

Manger les pissenlits par la racine

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French are not ‘dead’, but they ‘eat dandelions from the root’.

Se faire manger la laine sur le dos

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. A French person is not ‘naive’, they let ‘their wool get eaten while it’s still on their back’.

On a pas gardé les cochons ensemble

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French won’t say that someone ‘takes liberties’ but they’ll say, “We did not look after the pigs together.”

Ne pas avoir froid aux yeux

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. When the French are ‘brave’, their ‘eyes are not cold’.

C’est de la crotte de bique

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French won’t tell you that your work is ‘worthless’, instead they’ll politely say that it’s ‘goat’s poop’.

Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu’un

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French won’t ‘talk behind your back’ but they will ‘break sugar’ on it.

Ramener sa fraise

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. When the French want to ‘add their two cents’, they ‘bring in their strawberry’.

Ca sent le sapin

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. A French person doesn’t say ‘he/she does not have long to live’, they say, “It smells like fir tree.”

Pleurer comme une madeleine

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French don’t ‘cry a lot’, they ‘cry like a madeleine’.

Etre con comme la lune

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French won’t call someone ‘stupid’, but they’ll say they are ‘as dumb as the moon’.

Avoir les portugaises ensablées

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French don’t say that someone is ‘hard of hearing’, they say that ‘their Portuguese are filled with sand’.

Parler français comme un vache espagnole

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. A French person won’t tell you that you speak ‘broken French’ but they’ll say you speak French ‘like a Spanish cow’.

Je ne suis pas né(e) de la dernière pluie

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. A French person won’t defend themselves by saying ‘I’m not stupid’, they’ll say, “I was not born during the last rain fall.”

S’en aller en eau de boudin

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French don’t say that something is ‘fizzling out’, they say, “It’s turning into blood sausage water.”

Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. When the French are not ‘very lucky’, their ass is ‘lined with noodles’.

Passer un savon à quelqu’un

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French don’t ‘reprimand someone’, they ‘soap them up’.

Jeter l’éponge

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. The French don’t ‘give up’, instead they ‘throw away the sponge’.

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Reprinted with permission of Matador Network.

Angry French expressions

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. In place of insulting someone’s mother, instead get grandma involved when getting mad in French. Tell them how you really feel with these cutting expressions:

Va te faire cuire un œuf

Go and cook yourself an egg (we’d like you to get lost, but we don’t want you to starve)

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Est-ce que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du vélo?

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Do I ask you if your grandma bikes? (Mind your own damn business).

Ça me fait une belle jambe

It makes my leg look so pretty

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. If your words had the power to get rid of my cellulite, I’d care what you’re talking about.

Je m’en fous comme de ma première chemise

I care about it like I care about my very first shirt

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. That’s what you dare not say when your in-laws ask if you would like to see our holiday slides?

Ça me gonfle

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. I’m getting swollen by this (halfway into the slide show).

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Et mon cul, c’est du poulet?

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Is my ass made of chicken?

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Do not answer this question. Bow your head in forgiveness for the lies you told or run very fast.

Je vais lui sonner les cloches

I’m going to ring their bells (you’ll be yelled at so hard that all you’ll hear is a heavy ringing in your ears)

Faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Don’t push grandma in stinging nettle (you’re going way too far).

Ça te pend au bout du nez

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. It’s hanging at the tip of your nose (watch out because someone is about to slap you).

La moutarde me monte au nez

Check out ExpatsList for community resources and support. Mustard is coming up my nose! (When someone is upset, imagine their face is gradually turning red as the mustard rises).