/tɔ̃be de ny/ lit. ‘fall from the clouds’
French idiom, everyday. To be so astonished you can hardly believe what you’re seeing or hearing.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Tomber des nues
?
Everyday French, fine in conversation and in newspapers alike. You fall from the clouds when news hits you completely unprepared: “je tombe des nues”, “elle est tombée des nues” (past with “être”). Journalists like it for politicians who act surprised at scandals they knew about.
Tomber des nues
in real sentences
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Tom était manifestement tombé des nues.
Tom was obviously dumbfounded.
Tatoeba, sentence by tras, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Je suis tombé des nues à la lecture de sa lettre.
I was flabbergasted when I read his letter.
Tatoeba, sentence by Blabla, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Tomber des nues
come from?
“Nue” is an old word for cloud, so the picture is someone dropping out of the sky with no idea where they’ve landed. French Wiktionary quotes Molière’s “Tartuffe” (1669), where Madame Pernelle says “je tombe des nues”, so it was already a set phrase in the 17th century. Italian, Spanish and German use the same clouds.
Mistakes learners make with Tomber des nues
Reading “nues” as the adjective “naked”. Here it’s an old noun, “la nue”, meaning cloud, which survives almost only in this phrase and in “porter aux nues” (to praise to the skies).
Other French idioms like Tomber des nues
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?
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