77 French idioms, each filed under its main word, the way a dictionary would. Each one shows what it literally says and the English idiom for the same idea.
A
-
lit. ‘be with the angels’
EN Over the moon
-
lit. ‘have a spider on the ceiling’
EN To have a screw loose
-
Mentir comme un arracheur de dents
lit. ‘lie like a tooth-puller’
EN Lie through your teeth
-
L’avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt
lit. ‘the future belongs to early risers’
EN The early bird catches the worm
B
-
lit. ‘that’s where the pack-saddle hurts’
EN That’s the crux of it
-
lit. ‘take someone on a boat’
EN Pull someone’s leg
-
lit. ‘look for the little beast’
EN Split hairs
-
lit. ‘to be mown down like the wheat’
EN Not have two pennies to rub together
-
lit. ‘have a bowl full to the brim’
EN Had it up to here
C
-
lit. ‘for peanuts’
EN For peanuts
-
lit. ‘it’s the youngest of my worries’
EN I couldn’t care less
-
lit. ‘have the cockroach’
EN Down in the dumps
-
Renvoyer aux calendes grecques
lit. ‘to put off to the Greek calends’
EN Kick the can down the road
-
lit. ‘a duck cold’
EN Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
-
lit. ‘the cherry on the cake’
EN The icing on the cake
-
lit. ‘hen flesh’
EN Goosebumps
-
lit. ‘it’s a heat to croak from’
EN Hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement
-
lit. ‘to make someone wear the hat’
EN Pass the buck
-
lit. ‘buy a cat in a pocket’
EN Buy a pig in a poke
-
lit. ‘a cat in your throat’
EN A frog in your throat
-
Il n’y a si bon cheval qui ne bronche
lit. ‘there’s no horse so good that it never stumbles’
EN Even Homer nods
-
S’entendre comme chien et chat
lit. ‘to get on like dog and cat’
EN Fight like cat and dog
-
lit. ‘it’s Chinese’
EN It’s all Greek to me
-
lit. ‘jump from the rooster to the donkey’
EN Go off on a tangent
-
lit. ‘it’s raining ropes’
EN It’s raining cats and dogs
-
lit. ‘like backside and shirt’
EN Thick as thieves
D
-
lit. ‘at the devil’s Vauvert’
EN The middle of nowhere
-
EN Keep your fingers crossed
-
lit. ‘to be in fine sheets’
EN In hot water
E
-
lit. ‘to throw in the sponge’
EN Throw in the towel
-
lit. ‘to move forward like a snail’
EN At a snail’s pace
-
L’esprit de l’escalier
lit. ‘the wit of the staircase’
To think of the perfect reply only after the moment to say it has passed.
F
-
lit. ‘to throw flowers at yourself’
EN Blow your own trumpet
-
lit. ‘make a whole cheese of it’
EN Make a mountain out of a molehill
G
-
lit. ‘it’s cake’
EN A piece of cake
-
lit. ‘like two drops of water’
EN Like two peas in a pod
-
lit. ‘have a wooden mouth’
To feel ill the morning after drinking too much alcohol.
H
-
lit. ‘run on someone’s bean’
EN Get on someone’s nerves
J
-
lit. ‘do the java’
There's a lively party or a lot going on somewhere.
L
-
lit. ‘to give your tongue to the cat’
EN Not have the foggiest
-
lit. ‘put down a rabbit’
EN Stand someone up
-
lit. ‘sleep like a dormouse’
EN Sleep like a log
-
lit. ‘to have a wolf’s hunger’
EN I could eat a horse
-
lit. ‘to be in the moon’
EN Have your head in the clouds
M
-
lit. ‘sell the fuse’
EN Let the cat out of the bag
-
Il ne faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties
lit. ‘don’t push granny into the nettles’
Don't push it, that's going too far.
-
lit. ‘see noon at your own door’
Someone who only knows their own small world and thinks it's everything.
-
lit. ‘the mustard is rising up my nose’
EN Blow a fuse
N
-
Mener quelqu’un par le bout du nez
lit. ‘lead someone by the tip of the nose’
EN Wrap someone around your little finger
-
Se prendre pour le nombril du monde
lit. ‘take yourself for the navel of the world’
EN A prima donna
-
lit. ‘fall from the clouds’
EN You could have knocked me down with a feather
-
lit. ‘the night brings advice’
EN Sleep on it
O
-
lit. ‘not my onions’
EN Not my circus, not my monkeys
-
lit. ‘to roll on gold’
EN Have money to burn
-
Vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué
lit. ‘sell the bear’s skin before killing it’
EN Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
P
-
lit. ‘bread on the board’
EN A lot on your plate
-
Avoir des papillons dans le ventre
lit. ‘have butterflies in your belly’
EN Butterflies in your stomach
-
lit. ‘two steps away’
EN A stone’s throw
-
lit. ‘to be as chatty as a magpie’
EN Talk the hind legs off a donkey
-
lit. ‘put your feet in the dish’
EN Put your foot in it
-
lit. ‘two hits with one stone’
EN Kill two birds with one stone
-
lit. ‘to go and get into the pieu (slang for bed)’
EN Hit the sack
-
lit. ‘break your pipe’
EN Kick the bucket
-
lit. ‘have a hair in your hand’
EN Not lift a finger
-
lit. ‘split your pear’
EN Laugh your head off
-
Comme un poisson hors de l’eau
EN A fish out of water
-
lit. ‘fall in the apples’
EN Keel over
-
lit. ‘circle the pot’
EN Beat around the bush
-
Quand les poules auront des dents
lit. ‘when hens have teeth’
EN When pigs fly
R
-
lit. ‘be as bored as a dead rat’
EN Like watching paint dry
S
-
lit. ‘to tell salads’
EN A cock-and-bull story
-
lit. ‘squeezed together like sardines’
EN Packed like sardines
-
lit. ‘pedal in semolina’
EN Rack your brains
T
-
Mélanger les torchons et les serviettes
lit. ‘to mix the tea towels and the napkins’
EN Compare apples and oranges
V
-
lit. ‘have vein’
EN Hit the jackpot
Y
-
lit. ‘cost the eyes of your head’
EN Cost an arm and a leg
-
Ne pas avoir les yeux en face des trous
lit. ‘not have your eyes in front of the holes’
To miss something that is obvious to everyone else.