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FRN Vocabulary
Selection of Important Idiomatic Expressions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| le revers de la médaille | the other side of the coin |
| Ça fait râler... Ça me fait râler... | When something makes you very angry... That makes me angry... |
| Un rire jaune | a false smile (jaune is the color of treachery in Franch) |
| un jaune | a strikebreaker or a coward |
| faire le poireau | to be left to wait around (leeks remain in the ground longer than most vegetables) |
| Je ne sais plus où donner de la tête | I am really confused. |
| donner sa langue au chat | to give up |
| les cheveux en bataille | dishevelled hair |
| le train-train | the routine, regular routine without any unexpected event |
| C'est me bête noire. | I just cannot stand it (used when you want to emphatically make a point against someone or something). |
| avoir le trac | to have stage fright |
| a gogo | a lot of |
| un violon d'Ingres | a hobby (Ingres was a famous painter who played violin in his spare time.) |
| n'avoir ni queue ni tête | to make no sense (used when find it difficult to understand or believe a story) |
| de bon coeur | willingly (used to show good faith) |
| rester bouche bée | to be surprised (used to show extreme shock) |
| être rasoir | to be a bore (shaving is a repetitive task) |
| en somme | all in all (used after one has considered all there is to conclude a statement) |
| payer les pots cassés | to pay for the damage |
| comme le jour et la nuit | as different as night and day |
| tiré à quatre épingles | well dressed (held by four pins. During Renaissance, pins were an item of luxury) |
| la brebis galeuse | the black sheep (the mangy sheep) |
| être sans le sou | to be penniless (used to emphasize destitution) |
| avoir du toupet | to have nerve (used to criticize an insensitive person) |
| en faire à sa tête | to do as one wishes, act according to his or her own mind |
| appeler un chat un chat | to call a spade a spade |
| avoir de pain sur la plance | to have more than one thing to do (in rural France, farmers used to store large quantities of bread on a board) |
| un canard | a tabloid (canard was often untrue piece of news, now refers to magazine or newspapers that print such news) |
| C'est kif-kif. | It makes no difference. It's my pleasure either way. (kif-kif is Arabic meaning pleasure.) |
| être aux anges | to be very happy (to be with angels, to be in 7th heaven) |
| être bête comme ses pieds | to be very stupid, describes a brainless person (feet cannot think) |
| de nos jours | nowadays |
| un temps de chien | very bad weather (expressions with "de chien" have a negative connotation) |
| perdre le nord | to lose control (lost when cannot locate North) |
| rendre compte | |
| Cela vaut la peine | It's worth it, It's worth the hardship |
| être au point-mort | to be at a standstill (point of death is the neutral gear) |
| passer une nuit blanche | to spend a sleepless night (night empty of sheep) |
| avoir le cafard | to feel depressed (cafard = cockroach) |
| Sa mémoire est une vraie passoire. | He or she has a memory like a sieve. (passoire = sieve) |
| avoir des doigts de fées | to have nimble fingers (to have the fingers of the faerie) (someone who can use their fingers to do wonderful things) |
| faire courir un bruit | to spread a rumor |
| C'est son rayon. | That's his or her specialty. (Rayon is a department in a large store). |
| un coup de foudre | love at first sight (la foudre = thunderbolt) |
Created by:
kles
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