/ɛtʁ dɑ̃ la lyn/ lit. ‘to be in the moon’
French idiom, everyday. To be lost in thought and not paying attention.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Être dans la lune
?
Everyday and gentle, what a teacher says about a pupil staring out of the window or a parent about a teenager in love. It works with any tense of être: “il est dans la lune”, “elle était dans la lune toute la journée”. Quebec French has a whole adjective for this person: lunatique.
Also said avoir la tête dans la lune
Être dans la lune
in real sentences
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Il est dans la lune.
He is distracted.
Tatoeba, sentence by nimfeo, translation by belgavox, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Le lendemain de sa première sortie avec Tom, Marie était dans la lune toute la journée. Elle n’était pas du tout attentive en classe et n’avait pas d’appétit.
After her first date with Tom, Mary was distracted all day, couldn’t concentrate on her classes and didn’t feel hungry.
Tatoeba, sentence by gillux, translation by WestofEden, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Être dans la lune
come from?
The moon has long been tied to dreamers and to changeable moods in French, as in “mal luné” (badly mooned) for someone grumpy. French Wiktionary doesn’t date the phrase, but quotes it in Georges Feydeau’s comedy Le Dindon (1896), and a 1910 issue of La Revue scientifique already put “dans la lune” and “mal luné” side by side.
Mistakes learners make with Être dans la lune
Saying “sur la lune” because astronauts walk on it. The daydreamer is “dans la lune”, inside it; Hergé got a laugh out of the difference in Objectif Lune (1953).
Other French idioms like Être dans la lune
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