/kɔm dø ɡut d‿o/ lit. ‘like two drops of water’
French idiom, everyday. To look or be almost exactly alike.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Comme deux gouttes d’eau
?
Everyday French, almost always after the verb ressembler, as English Wiktionary’s usage note points out. Two people “se ressemblent comme deux gouttes d’eau”; one person “ressemble comme deux gouttes d’eau à” another. It’s mostly said of twins, siblings and parents with their children, though it works for objects too.
Also said se ressembler comme deux gouttes d’eau
Comme deux gouttes d’eau
in real sentences
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Les deux frères se ressemblent comme deux gouttes d’eau.
The two brothers are like two peas in a pod.
Tatoeba, sentence by sacredceltic, translation by Dejo, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Il ressemble comme deux gouttes d’eau à son père.
He is the image of his father.
Tatoeba, sentence by gillux, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Comme deux gouttes d’eau
come from?
The picture explains itself: no one can tell two drops of water apart. French Wiktionary gives no date but quotes Denis Diderot using it in 1771, and Russian has the identical image (как две капли воды, like two drops of water). We found no record of an earlier first use.
Mistakes learners make with Comme deux gouttes d’eau
Dropping the “à” after ressembler. French says “il ressemble à son père”, so “il ressemble comme deux gouttes d’eau son père” is wrong; the person you look like always comes after à.
Other French idioms like Comme deux gouttes d’eau
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