If you really want to learn French, you need to know a few French expressions...

Si tu veux vraiment apprendre le Français, il faut connaître quelques expressions Françaises!

Fewer things are more revealing of a person’s familiarity with a language than utilising expressions to convey an idea. Unlike expletives, which many people use to add emphasis to a statement, a thoughtfully used expression is la meilleure façon (the best way) to convey your understanding of French that might surprise, and even impress, the unassuming listener.

Here are few more tournures de phrases (turns of phrase) worth adding to your repertoire. For previous posts on French expressions, see part 1, part 2 and part 3 by scrolling back in the blog pages.

NOTE: Phrase in parentheses is the literal translation, or as close to it as possible.

Peigner la giraffe (Painting the giraffe) – Not doing anything useful.

Battre la semelle (Beating the sole) – Walking and waiting.

Filer à l’anglaise (Getting away at the english) – Leaving without saying goodbye or without telling anyone.

L’habit ne fait pas le moine (The garment does not make the monk) – Appearances can be deceiving.

Faire un four (Doing an oven) – Being a failure at something.

Rouler quelqu’un dans la farine (Rolling someone in flour) – Lying to someone.

Avoir le cœur sur la main (Having the heart on the hand) – Being generous.

Tirer sur l’ambulance (Pulling on the ambulance) – Burdening someone who is already going through a difficult situation.

Couper les ponts (Cutting the bridges) – Severing relationships (similar to the expression “Burning one’s bridges”).

Salut vieille branche! (Hey old branch!) – You can use this expression with someone you’ve known a long time.

Tête de nœud (Head of knots) – Dummy/fool.

Tenir les murs (Holding the walls) – Not doing anything.

Au doigt mouillé (At the wet finger) – Imprecisely or only approximately.

Sur le fil du rasoir (On the string of the razor) – In a dangerous or unstable situation (similar to the English expression “On the razor’s edge”).

La tentation de Venise (The temptation of Venice) – Tempted to devote your time to something else, to change vocations.

Faire flanelle (Doing flannel) – Not purchasing or consuming anything.

Le diable est dans les détails (The devil is in the details) – Remembering that details are important and not to disregard them (this expression is found in the English language and is very common).

Couper la poire en deux (Cutting the pear in two) – Splitting something equally or compromising.

La loi de la jungle (The law of the jungle) – The law of the strongest.

Rester sur l’estomac (Staying on the stomach) – Referring to something that is difficult to digest.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

If you really want to learn French, you need to know a few French expressions...

Si tu veux vraiment apprendre le Français, il faut connaître quelques expressions Françaises!

You aren’t going to find these in formal language books but equipping yourself with some of these idioms, colloquialisms and tournures de phrases (turns of phrase) will endear you to the French even if your accent betrays you.

Let’s discover some more French expressions, some of which may be completely foreign to you.

*Phrase in parentheses (brackets) is the literal translation, or as close to it as possible.*

1. Il fait un temps de chien! (It a dog time!) – It’s very bad weather!

2. Coincer le bulle (Trapping the bubble) – Not doing anything, relaxing.

3. Par monts et par vaux (By mountains and valleys) – On the move.

4. Avoir les dents longues (Having long teeth) – Being very ambitious.

5. Casser sa pipe (Breaking one’s pipe) – Dying.

6. Tuer la poule aux œufs d’or (Killing the chicken with the golden eggs) – To trade long term benefits  for immediate profits.

7. Avoir le nez creux (Having a hollow nose) – Having good intuition.

8. Être un as (Being an ace) – Being the best at something.

9. Boire du petit lait (Drinking little milk) – To feel satisfied upon receiving compliments.

10. Pot aux roses (Pot of roses) – A secret or a mystery.

11. À tombeau ouvert (At open tomb) – Going way too fast.

12. Mettre le feu aux poudres (Putting the fire to the powder) – Stirring up trouble or aggravating a situation.

13. S’ennuyer comme un rat mort (Bored like a dead rat) – Being very bored.

14. Clouer le bec (Nailing the beak) – Silencing someone.

15. Garder son sang-froid (Keeping one’s blood cold) – Remaining calm or maintaining self-control.

16. Avoir bon dos (Having good back) – Being easy to blame.

17. Le roi n’est pas son cousin (The king is not his/her cousin) – He/She is happier than a king.

18. Sucrer les fraises (Sweetening the strawberries ) – To have shaky hands (referring to the action of sprinkling sugar on strawberries).

19. Il n’y a pas un chat (There isn’t a cat) – The place is empty or there’s no one here.

20. Donner carte blanche (Giving the white card) – Giving someone authority to do anything..

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Just updating the Cle France Office calendar and thought this was useful information for those booking and planning property viewings in France.

So here are the remaining Bank Holiday dates / jour fériés in France...

Thursday 08/05/2014 is Victory in Europe

Sunday 25/05/20 is Mother´s Day

Thursday 29/05/2014 is Ascension

Sunday 08/06/2014 is Pentecost

Monday 09/06/2014 is Pentecost Monday

Sunday 15/06/2014 is Father´s Day

Monday 14/07/2014 is Bastille Day

Friday 15/08/2014 is Assumption of Mary

Saturday 01/11/2014 is All Saints

Tuesday 11/11/2014 is Armistice Day 1918

Thursday 25/12/2014 is Christmas

Please note: A lot of business and shops, Post offices etc will be closed in France on these days.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

If you really want to learn French, you need to know a few French expressions...

Si tu veux vraiment apprendre le Français, il faut connaître quelques expressions Françaises!

You aren’t going to find these in formal language books but equipping yourself with some of these idioms, colloquialisms and tournures de phrases (turns of phrase) will endear you to the French even if your accent betrays you.

Below are a few of the more popular French expressions along with their literal translations (or close to it) and what they mean in English.

1. Ca gaz? (Is it gassing?) – How’s it going?

2. C’est pas terrible (It’s not terrible) – It isn’t that great.

3. Et patati et patata (And blah, blah, blah,) – When someone won’t stop talking.

4. Un froid de canard (A duck’s cold) – It’s extremely cold outside.

5. Faire la grasse matinée (Doing the fat morning) – Sleeping in.

6. Avoir une araignée au plafond (Having a spider on the ceiling) – The ceiling refers to a person’s head and means that he/she is a little odd but that it doesn’t bother anyone.

7. Rentrer bredouille (Returning bredouille) – There’s no real translation for the word bredouille but it means returning empty-handed.

8. Tomber à pic (Falling at the peak) – To arrive at just the right time.

9. Avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre (Having eyes bigger than the stomach) – This refers to a person whose desire for food was larger than their stomach and they end up overeating or not being able to finish the food on their plate.

10. Mettre la charrue avant les bœufs (Placing the plow before the oxen) – This is similar to the phrase “Putting the cart before the horse” and has the same meaning.

11. Bête comme un chou (Dumb like a cabbage) – Refers to a person who is dumb, similar to the expression “Dumber than a sack of hammers/rocks.”

12. Avoir le feu au derrière (Having fire on your behind) – To be in a hurry.

13. Donner sa langue au chat (To give one’s tongue to the cat) – To give up or to stop guessing.

14. Avoir d’autres chat à fouetter (Having other cats to whip) – Similar to “Having bigger fish to fry” meaning having other things to do.

15. Boire un coup/Prendre un verre (Drink a blow/Take a glass) – To have a drink.

16. Avoir le cafard (Having the cockroach) – Feeling down or depressed.

17. Être dans de beaux draps (Being in nice sheets) – Being in a mess.

18. Dormir sur les deux oreilles (Sleeping on both ears) – Sleeping well, having restful sleep.

19. Vieux/Vieille comme Hérode (Old like Herod) – Referring to King Herod in the Bible, this simply refers to a very elderly person.

20. À fond la caisse (At full throttle) – To go real fast, especially in a vehicle.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

I spotted this article on a site called 'French Language blog' and thought it was interesting so I am sharing it here, I remember our neighbours children pointing to the ducks on our pond years ago and shouting 'quand quand' as opposed to what it says here 'coin coin', either way surely 'quack quack' is more accurate? I can't believe I am saying this?..............

The word onomatopée (onomatopoeia) has been floating around the Internet as of late and I thought it would be fun to devote a post to French onomatopoeias vs. their English counterparts.

What is an onomatopoeia? An onomatopoeia is a word meant to mimic a certain sound made by un humain (a human), un animal (an animal) or un objet (an object). The spelling of an onomatopoeia should sound as close as possible to the actual sound it is trying to imitate.

The word itself comes from two Ancient Greek words: onoma meaning name, and poieo meaning to produce.

So let’s run through a few onomatopoeias in both French and English to give us an idea of how people hear things differently. You’ll find a number of these in both French and English bandes dessinées (comic books), dessins animés (cartoons) and livres pour enfants (children’s books). Keep in mind that there can be several onomatopoeias for the same sound but these are just some of the more popular ones.

The first onomatopoeia will be in French and the second in English.

Human Sounds:

1. Sleep: ron-ron vs. zzzzzzz

2. Sneeze: atchoum vs. achoo

3. Expression of pain: aïe! vs. ouch!

4. Crying baby: ouin-ouin vs. wah-wah

5. Drinking: glou-glou vs. slurp/glug

6. Beating heart: poum-poum vs. thump-thump

7. Hushing: chut vs. shh

Animal Sounds:

1. Rooster: cocorico vs. cock-a-doodle-doo

2. Pig: groin-groin vs. oink-oink

3. Bird: cui-cui vs. tweet-tweet

4. Duck: coin-coin vs. quack-quack

5. Frog: croac-croac vs. ribit/croak

6. Snake: siff vs. hiss/sss

7. Owl: ouh-ouh vs. hoo-hoo

Sounds made by objects:

1. Clock: tic-tac vs. tick-tock

2. Ambulance siren: pin-pon vs. wee-woo

3. Gun firing: pan-pan! vs. bang-bang!

4. Car door slamming: vlan! vs. wham!

5. Water dripping: plic-plic vs. drip-drip

6. Doorbell ringing: dingue-dongue vs. ding-dong

7. Telephone ringing: dring-dring vs. ring-ring

Here endeth the strangest blog I have ever posted!

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.