/ɛtʁ bavaʁ kɔm‿yn pi/ lit. ‘to be as chatty as a magpie’
French idiom, everyday. To talk a lot, often without stopping.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Être bavard comme une pie
?
Everyday and a little teasing, used about kids, friends, a neighbor who keeps you at the door for an hour. Bavard agrees with the talker (“elle est bavarde comme une pie”, “ils sont bavards comme des pies”) while the magpie stays a magpie. The magpie also has its own verb for the noise: “jacasser comme une pie”.
Also said bavarde comme une pie, bavards comme des pies
Être bavard comme une pie
in real sentences
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Les filles de la maison d’en face sont bavardes comme des pies.
The girls in the house across the street chatter like magpies.
Tatoeba, sentence by nimfeo, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Arrête de jacasser comme une pie. C’est le temps de travailler.
Stop chattering like a magpie. It’s time to work.
Where does Être bavard comme une pie
come from?
The magpie earned the comparison with its loud, endless chattering call, which French also names with its own verb: “la pie jacasse”. French Wiktionary lists the phrase as a simple comparison and quotes it from 1846, in Grégoire Girard’s language course for schools, but gives no earlier history.
Mistakes learners make with Être bavard comme une pie
Forgetting the agreement. A woman is “bavarde comme une pie” and a group is “bavards comme des pies”; leaving it in the masculine singular sounds off.
Other French idioms like Être bavard comme une pie
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