/fɛʁ dyn pjɛʁ dø ku/ lit. ‘two hits with one stone’
French idiom, everyday. To get two things done with a single action.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Faire d’une pierre deux coups
?
Everyday French, fine in conversation and in writing. You conjugate faire: “j’ai fait d’une pierre deux coups”, “on ferait d’une pierre deux coups”. On its own, “d’une pierre deux coups” works as a quick comment once someone has explained their clever plan.
Also said d’une pierre deux coups
Faire d’une pierre deux coups
in real sentences
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J’ai fait d’une pierre deux coups.
I killed two birds with one stone.
Tatoeba, sentence by sacredceltic, translation by keira_n, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Comme ça, on fait d’une pierre deux coups.
That way we kill two birds with one stone.
Tatoeba, sentence by Aiji, translation by AlanF_US, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Faire d’une pierre deux coups
come from?
Nobody has pinned down when it started. French Wiktionary gives no date, and the oldest example it quotes is from Lucien Descaves in 1924. It illustrates the entry with a man using a slingshot, which matches the picture: one throw, two hits. Unlike English, German or Spanish, the French version leaves out what gets hit.
Mistakes learners make with Faire d’une pierre deux coups
Bringing the birds along. “Tuer deux oiseaux avec une pierre” is a word-for-word copy of the English; in French nobody dies, the stone just lands two hits (coups).
Other French idioms like Faire d’une pierre deux coups
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