The French love their language. They even have a whole council called the Académie Française that is devoted to keeping the French language in pristine shape. One of the things this committee is constantly fighting against is the influence of English in their language. For example, most French people translate the word e-mail to mail, but technically it should be translated to the more French version mél. But if there is something the French love more than their language, it’s their idioms.
Idioms are an important part of every language, but when you grow up with them they don’t seem so strange. For a long time, I never thought how weird it is to say “bite the bullet” when you want to get something over with that is inevitable, or “under the weather” when you’re feeling a little bit sick. So, when I heard people in France talk about not being in their plate, or to squeeze their teeth, I was very confused. I would soon learn that pas dans son assiette means to be under the weather, and serrer les dents means to bite the bullet.
If you read the piece I wrote about 5 untranslatable French words I wish existed in English, you’ll know I’m already partial towards idioms that use food words, like avoir un coeur d’artichaut. This idiom, which literally means to have an artichoke heart, is used to talk about a hopeless romantic. I’m a huge foodie, so anytime I can talk about food I most likely will, which is why French idioms are great because a lot of them use food terms.
When I was doing my research I was overwhelmed by how many French idioms there are, so I decided to focus on what myself and the French adore: their food. This list is not exhaustive, but it has a lot of the most-frequently used idioms, and some of the funniest. I think my favorite is ne pas savoir quelle sauce on va manger.
Fruit/Vegetable Idioms
Occupe-toi de tes oignons
Literally: Take care of your onions
True meaning: Mind your own business
Carrotter
Literally: To carrot
True meaning: To swipe/to swindle
Les carottes sont cuites
Literally: The carrots are cooked
True meaning: There’s no hope
Mettre du beurre dans les épinards
Literally: To put butter in the spinach
True meaning: To top up your income
Tomber dans les pommes
Literally: To fall into the apples
True meaning: to faint
C’est pour ma pomme
Literally: It’s for my apple
True meaning: It’s my treat/it’s on me
Pauvre pomme!
Literally: Poor apple!
True meaning: Chump
Pomme d’amour
Literally: Apple of love
True meaning: Candy apple
Pomme de discorde
Literally: Apple of disagreement
True meaning: Bone of contention
Pomme de douche
Literally: Apple of shower
True meaning: shower head
Purée!
Literally: Mashed potatoes!
True meaning: Sugar! Fudge!
Mi-figue mi-raisin
Literally: Half-fig half-grape
True meaning: Hesitant/between two options
Bread Idioms
Avoir du pain sur la planche
Literally: To have bread on the bread board
True meaning: To have a lot on your plate
C’est du pain bénit
Literally: It’s blessed bread
True meaning: It’s a godsend
Ça ne mange pas du pain
Literally: That doesn’t eat bread
True meaning: It can’t hurt
Coller un pain à quelqu’un / Filer un pain à quelqu’un
Literally: To stick bread to someone / To give bread to someone
True meaning: To punch someone in the face
Gagne-pain
Literally: Win-bread
True meaning: Livelihood or breadwinner
Long comme un jour sans pain
Literally: Long like a day without bread
True meaning: Long like a month of Sundays
Ne pas manger de ce pain-là
Literally: To not eat that bread there
True meaning: To want nothing to do with it
Planche à pain
Literally: Bread board
True meaning: flat-chested
Pour une bouchée de pain
Literally: For a mouthful of bread
True meaning: For next to nothing
Prendre un pain
Literally: To take a bread
True meaning: To take a punch
Dairy-Product Idioms
Ça se boit comme du petit-lait
Literally: To drink something like it’s whey
True meaning: That goes down easy!
En faire tout un fromage / En faire tout un plat / En faire tout un cake
Literally: To make a whole cheese/dish/cake
True meaning: To make a mountain out of a molehill
Dent de lait
Literally: Milk tooth
True meaning: Baby tooth
Être soupe au lait
Literally: To be milk soup
True meaning: To be short-tempered
Si on lui pressait le nez, il en sortait du lait
Literally: If we pressed his nose, milk would come out of him
True meaning: He’s barely out of the cradle
Surveiller quelqu’un comme le lait sur le feu
Literally: To watch someone like milk on the stove
True meaning: To keep a close eye on
Condiments Idioms
Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez
Literally: To have mustard that goes up the nose
True meaning: To lose your temper
Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu’un
Literally: To break sugar on top of someone’s back
True meaning: To talk about someone behind his/her back
À ma sauce
Literally: To my sauce
True meaning: Suit my style
Ne pas savoir quelle sauce on va manger
Literally: To not know which sauce we are going to eat
True meaning: To not know what fate has in store for you
Mettre son grain de sel
Literally: To put in your grain of salt
True meaning: To put in your two cents
Dessert Idioms
La cerise sur le gâteau
Literally: The cherry on top of the cake
True meaning: The cherry on top/the icing on the cake
Maman gâteau
Literally: Cake mom
True meaning: Overindulgent mother or mother hen
Papa gâteau
Literally: Cake dad
True meaning: Indulgent father
Vouloir sa part de gâteau
Literally: To want your piece of the cake
True meaning: To want your share of the spoils
I hope you enjoyed learning all of these French idioms! Next time you have an opportunity to use one, you should. Ça ne mange pas du pain!
