Monday, October 8, 2012

Surprising French Phrases

These may come in handy.
  1. Ah, la vache! (lit: oh, the cow!): oh my God!
  2. à l’eau de rose (lit: with rose water): sentimental/soppy
  3. à toutes les sauces (lit: with all the sauces): in all sorts of ways
  4. au poil (lit: to a hair): perfect; flawless
  5. avoir le gueule de bois (lit: to have a wooden face): to have a hangover
  6. avoir le bourdon (lit: to have the bumblebee): to feel down/have the blues
  7. avoir le cafard (lit: to have the cockroach): be down in the dumps; have the blues
  8. avoir le démon de midi (lit: to have the midday demon): to have a midlife crisis
  9. avoir un chat dans la gorge ) (lit: to have a cat in your throat): to have a frog in your throat
  10. avoir une faim de loup (to have the hunger of a wolf): to be ravenous/starving hungry
  11. avoir une peur bleue de quelque chose (lit: to have the blue fear): to be scared stiff of something
  12. avoir une araignée au plafond (lit: to have a spider in the head):to have a screw loose
  13. c'est la fin des haricots (lit: that's the end of the beans) : it's the last straw/its hopeless or that's the end of it
  14. chercher des puces (lit: to look for fleas): to bug/annoy someone
  15. les carottes sont cuites (lit: the carrots are cooked): I've had it/that's enough
  16. quand on parle du loup (on en voit la queue) (lit: When you talk about the wolf (you see its tail)): speak of the devil
  17. quelle mouche t'a piqué? (lit: which fly bit you?): what's your problem? what's the matter with you?
  18. se fair une toile (lit: to make a fabric): Go to the movies.
  19. un film trop mortel (lit: a film too mortal): such a good movie
  20. zut alors! (no translation!): holy smokes/darn!