Each French idiom below comes with what its words literally say, what it means and how other languages put the same idea. To see every language at once, open the side-by-side page for work.
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lit. ‘bread on the board’
To have a lot of work or problems to deal with at once.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘have a hair in your hand’
To be very lazy and avoid work.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘two hits with one stone’
To get two things done with a single action.
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lit. ‘pedal in semolina’
To be stuck and unable to work something out.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘the cherry on the cake’
Something extra that makes a good thing even better.
Elsewhere
- EN The icing on the cake
- DE Das i-Tüpfelchen
- DE Das Sahnehäubchen
- ES La guinda del pastel
- IT La ciliegina sulla torta
- JA 画竜点睛
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lit. ‘that’s where the pack-saddle hurts’
That's the central point that everything else depends on.
Elsewhere
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Il n’y a si bon cheval qui ne bronche
lit. ‘there’s no horse so good that it never stumbles’
Even the most skilled people sometimes make mistakes.
Elsewhere
- EN Even Homer nods
- ES Al mejor cazador se le va la liebre
- IT Sbaglia anche il prete all’altare
- JA 猿も木から落ちる
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lit. ‘it’s cake’
Something is very easy to do.
Elsewhere
- EN A piece of cake
- DE Ein Kinderspiel
- ES Es pan comido
- IT Un gioco da ragazzi
- JA 朝飯前
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Renvoyer aux calendes grecques
lit. ‘to put off to the Greek calends’
To keep putting something off instead of dealing with it.
Elsewhere
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lit. ‘to move forward like a snail’
Very slowly.
Elsewhere
- EN At a snail’s pace
- DE Im Schneckentempo
- ES Más lento que el caballo del malo
- IT A passo di lumaca
- JA 牛歩
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lit. ‘to throw in the sponge’
To give up and admit defeat.
Elsewhere
- EN Throw in the towel
- DE Das Handtuch werfen
- ES Tirar la toalla
- IT Gettare la spugna
- JA お手上げ
Phrases in bold with a red marker are written up. The rest don’t have their own page yet.