English Idioms with French Translations: 60 Expressions and What French Speakers Get Wrong

1Why French speakers start ahead and still get caught

French speakers have an advantage in English that speakers of almost no other language have. Roughly a third of English vocabulary came from French after 1066, and a great many idioms came with it. You start this topic with material nobody else has.

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be worked out from its words. Kick the bucket has nothing to do with buckets. Casser sa pipe has nothing to do with pipes. Both mean to die, and neither can be reasoned out. A native speaker uses roughly ten idioms in every conversation without noticing, so missing them means losing part of every meeting and every podcast.

What you already have

Briser la glace really is to break the ice. Lire entre les lignes really is to read between the lines. Jouer avec le feu, être dans le même bateau, être tout ouïe, le mouton noir, une aiguille dans une botte de foin and une goutte d'eau dans la mer all transfer word for word. That is a substantial free head start.

And that head start is exactly the trap. The pattern holds often enough to feel reliable, so your instinct stops checking. Then you say a cat in my throat, because French says un chat dans la gorge, and English keeps a frog there instead.

So the work divides into three parts and only the middle one is dangerous: idioms that transfer, which you already have; idioms that nearly transfer with one element swapped, which is where every error lives; and idioms that exist in only one language, which are simply vocabulary.

There is a fourth problem specific to French, and it is not about idioms at all. French has invented a large number of English-looking words that English does not have. Un footing, un brushing, un relooking, le pressing and un smoking are all normal French and none of them is English. Section five deals with those on their own.

Tip: Do not study idioms alphabetically. Sort them into transfers, near-transfers, and one-language-only. The near-transfers are a short list, and they account for nearly all of your mistakes.

2The safe list: same image in both languages

These transfer directly. Same picture, same meaning, same register. You can translate word for word and be right, which is rare enough to deserve a list of its own.

briser la glace is to break the ice
jouer avec le feu is to play with fire
lire entre les lignes is to read between the lines
être dans le même bateau is to be in the same boat
être tout ouïe is to be all ears
le mouton noir is the black sheep
une aiguille dans une botte de foin is a needle in a haystack
une goutte d'eau dans la mer is a drop in the ocean
faire la sourde oreille is to turn a deaf ear
voir rouge is to see red
être dans le rouge is to be in the red
croiser les doigts is to keep your fingers crossed
prendre le taureau par les cornes is to take the bull by the horns
être sur la même longueur d'onde is to be on the same wavelength
la balle est dans ton camp is the ball is in your court
comme un poisson hors de l'eau is like a fish out of water
jeter des perles aux pourceaux is to cast pearls before swine
l'argent ne pousse pas sur les arbres is money does not grow on trees
mieux vaut tard que jamais is better late than never
tout ce qui brille n'est pas or is all that glitters is not gold
qui se ressemble s'assemble is birds of a feather flock together
né avec une cuillère d'argent dans la bouche is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, silver in both
c'est du gâteau is a piece of cake, and both languages chose cake

The overlap is not a coincidence. Norman French supplied a third of English vocabulary and a good deal of its proverb stock, and both languages then drew on the same Latin and biblical sources. The most recent additions, like the ball is in your court, travelled the other way in the last century.

Tip: Because these transfer, use them first when you want to sound natural under pressure. You will not have to think about them, and they buy you the seconds you need for the rest of the sentence.

3Same meaning, different animal

This is the section that matters. Each idiom below exists in both languages and means the same thing, but one element is swapped, so the French version translated literally produces English that is odd rather than wrong. Those are the errors nobody corrects, because they understood you and said nothing.

A frog in your throat, not a cat

French says avoir un chat dans la gorge, a cat in the throat. English keeps a frog there. Both mean a temporary hoarseness. I have a cat in my throat is comprehensible and will make an English speaker smile, which is not the effect you wanted mid-presentation.

Once in a blue moon, not every thirty-sixth of the month

French says tous les trente-six du mois, which is delightful and untranslatable, since no month has a thirty-sixth day. English says once in a blue moon. Both mean very rarely. Neither image survives translation.

An arm and a leg, not the eyes of your head

French says coûter les yeux de la tête, to cost the eyes of the head. English costs an arm and a leg. Same meaning, different body parts, and the French is the more alarming of the two.

Under the weather, not out of your plate

French says ne pas être dans son assiette, not to be in one's plate, meaning slightly unwell or out of sorts. English says under the weather. This is one of the most useful everyday phrases in both languages and the images share nothing.

Other fish to fry, not other cats to whip

French says avoir d'autres chats à fouetter, other cats to whip. English has other fish to fry. Both mean having more important things to do. Do not translate the French.

When pigs fly, not when hens have teeth

French says quand les poules auront des dents, when hens have teeth. English says when pigs fly. Both mean never. Both are absurd, and neither absurdity transfers.

Speak of the devil, not the wolf

French says quand on parle du loup, on en voit la queue, when you speak of the wolf you see its tail. English says speak of the devil. Same situation, different creature.

The apple and the tree, not dogs and cats

French says les chiens ne font pas des chats, dogs do not make cats, meaning children resemble their parents. English says the apple does not fall far from the tree. This pair shares no image at all, which makes it a pure vocabulary item.

faire d'une pierre deux coups keeps the stone but loses the birds; English kills two birds with one stone
jeter de l'huile sur le feu pours oil; English adds fuel to the fire
couper les ponts cuts the bridges; English burns them
jeter l'éponge throws the sponge; English throws in the towel
avoir la main verte is a green hand; English has green fingers in Britain and a green thumb in North America
être aux anges is to be with the angels; English is on cloud nine, or over the moon
il pleut des cordes rains ropes; English rains cats and dogs
tourner autour du pot turns around the pot; English beats about the bush
mettre les pieds dans le plat puts feet in the dish; English puts its foot in it
vendre la mèche sells the wick; English spills the beans, or lets the cat out of the bag
bâtir des châteaux en Espagne builds castles in Spain; English builds them in the air
la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase overflows a vase; English calls it the last straw, or the straw that broke the camel's back
avoir du pain sur la planche is bread on the board; English has your hands full, or a lot on your plate
faire marcher quelqu'un makes someone walk; English pulls their leg
c'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron is about blacksmiths; English says practice makes perfect
il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué is about a bear; English says do not count your chickens before they hatch

The two you will need most often are ne pas être dans son assiette and avoir un chat dans la gorge, because both describe how you feel today and both come up in ordinary conversation. Drill those before anything else here.

Tip: For each pair, say the English version aloud three times and do not rehearse the French. The French image is already automatic; you are building a competing habit, and repeating both keeps the competition alive.

4The French-to-English idiom table

Quick reference for the expressions you are most likely to reach for. French first, then the English that carries it.

avoir le cafard becomes to feel down, or to have the blues.
en avoir marre becomes to be fed up.
ça marche becomes that works, or sounds good.
n'importe quoi becomes nonsense, or that is ridiculous.
bref becomes anyway, or long story short.
du coup becomes so, or as a result, and English speakers use it far less often than French speakers use du coup.
quand même becomes still, or all the same, depending on the sentence.
avoir le trac becomes to have stage fright, or to be nervous.
poser un lapin à quelqu'un becomes to stand someone up.
avoir la flemme becomes I cannot be bothered.
ras-le-bol becomes I have had enough.
être à l'ouest becomes to be out of it, or not with it.
tomber dans les pommes becomes to faint, or to pass out.
raconter des salades becomes to spin a yarn, or to tell tall tales.
avoir un poil dans la main becomes to be bone idle.
se creuser la tête becomes to rack your brains.
prendre son courage à deux mains becomes to bite the bullet, or to steel yourself.
battre froid à quelqu'un becomes to give someone the cold shoulder.
être fauché becomes to be broke.
coup de foudre becomes love at first sight.
un pieux mensonge becomes a white lie.
revenons à nos moutons becomes let us get back to the point.
ce n'est pas la mer à boire becomes it is not that hard, or it is not the end of the world.
les doigts dans le nez becomes hands down, or with your eyes closed.
être crevé becomes to be shattered, or wiped out.
avoir la gueule de bois becomes to have a hangover.
faire la grasse matinée becomes to have a lie-in, or to sleep in.
mettre son grain de sel becomes to put your oar in, or to chip in.
l'habit ne fait pas le moine becomes do not judge a book by its cover.
chacun voit midi à sa porte becomes everyone sees things their own way.

Tip: Do not memorise this table. Read it once, then mark the five expressions you personally use most in French. Those five are the ones whose English versions you will actually need.

5Faux anglicismes: French words that only look English

French has coined a large number of English-looking words that English does not have, or has with a different meaning. These are not stylistic slips; several of them will simply not be understood, and one or two will be misunderstood.

un footing means jogging; English footing means a foothold or a basis, as in on an equal footing. Say jogging, or going for a run.
un brushing means a blow-dry at the hairdresser; English brushing is just brushing. Say a blow-dry.
un relooking means a makeover; English has no relooking. Say a makeover.
le pressing means the dry cleaner's; English pressing is applying pressure. Say the dry cleaner's.
un smoking means a dinner jacket; English smoking is the verb. Say a tuxedo in North America, a dinner jacket in Britain.
un parking means a car park; English parking is the activity. Say a car park, or a parking lot in North America.
un camping means a campsite; English camping is the activity. Say a campsite.
un dressing means a walk-in wardrobe; English dressing is a sauce or a bandage. Say a walk-in closet.
un lifting means a facelift; English lifting is raising something. Say a facelift.
un baby-foot means table football; English says table football, or foosball in North America.
un flipper means a pinball machine; English flipper is a fin or a flat paddle. Say a pinball machine.
des baskets means trainers or sneakers; English basket is a container. Say trainers in Britain, sneakers in North America.
un slip means underpants; English slip is a light undergarment worn under a dress. Say underwear, or briefs.
un talkie-walkie reverses the English, which is a walkie-talkie.
un tennisman and un rugbyman are not English; say a tennis player and a rugby player.
le shampooing means shampoo, with a spelling English never uses.
un playback means lip-syncing; English playback is replaying a recording.
un travelling is a tracking shot in film; English travelling is going somewhere.
les people means celebrities; English people is just people. Say celebrities.
un zapping means channel-hopping; English zapping does not mean that.
faire un forcing has no English equivalent at all; say to push hard, or to pile on the pressure.
un after means an after-party; say an after-party.

Three of these will actually mislead rather than merely confuse. Un slip means something quite different in English. Un smoking will be heard as the activity. And le pressing in a sentence about clothes will not land at all. Remove all three from your English entirely.

This overlaps with the wider set of French-English false friends, where a word exists in both languages with different meanings, such as actuellement and actually, éventuellement and eventually, sensible and sensible, and librairie and library. That is a separate topic with its own guide.

Tip: Test any English-looking word you learned in French by searching it in quotation marks alongside a plain English word. If almost every result is a French site, the word is French.

6French expressions English simply does not have

Some French expressions have no English equivalent at all. There is nothing to translate; there is only what English does instead, which is sometimes nothing.

bon courage, said to someone facing something difficult or tedious, has no English equivalent. English says good luck, which is not quite it, or nothing at all.
bonne continuation, said when parting from someone mid-project, has no English version whatsoever. English says all the best, or good luck with it.
bon appétit is so absent from English that English speakers simply use the French, or say nothing and start eating.
l'esprit de l'escalier, the perfect reply you think of on the way down the stairs, was borrowed into English and is almost never used. Explain it rather than deploying it.
râler, to complain habitually and with a certain enjoyment, has no English verb. To moan is the closest, and it is weaker.
flâner, to wander without purpose and with pleasure, needs a phrase in English: to stroll, or to wander around.
dépaysement, the pleasant disorientation of being somewhere unfamiliar, has no English noun at all.
retrouvailles, the joy of being reunited, likewise has none; English says a reunion, which describes the event and not the feeling.
si, the yes that contradicts a negative statement, has no English equivalent; English repeats the verb instead, as in yes it is, or yes I did.
bof, the spoken shrug, becomes a shrug, or meh, which is informal and American.
voilà was borrowed into English but is used more narrowly there, mostly to present something finished.
enfin as a filler has no single English word; depending on the sentence it becomes well, anyway, or I mean.

The pattern is worth noticing. French builds single words for social moments and precise feelings, and English builds phrases or says nothing. So the translation of a compact French noun is rarely a compact English noun; it is a short English sentence, or silence.

Tip: When you cannot find the English word, describe the situation in the simplest sentence you can. English speakers do the same thing; it is not a failure, it is how the language works.

7English idioms with no French version

The reverse direction. These come up constantly in English and there is no French idiom to attach them to, so they have to be learned as ordinary vocabulary.

to touch base means to make brief contact to check on progress
to circle back means to return to a topic later
a ballpark figure means a rough estimate
to move the needle means to make a difference that is actually measurable
out of left field means completely unexpected
to knock it out of the park means to do something exceptionally well
to throw someone under the bus means to blame a colleague to protect yourself
to have skin in the game means to have something personal at risk
a rain check means to postpone an invitation to another time
to be in the weeds means to be lost in detail, or overwhelmed
low-hanging fruit means the easiest available gains
to hit the ground running means to be productive from the first day
to ring a bell means to sound vaguely familiar
to bite off more than you can chew means to take on too much
to play devil's advocate means to argue a position you do not hold in order to test it
to look forward to something has no neat French equivalent; se réjouir de is close but more emotional
to miss someone reverses in French, since tu me manques literally means you are missing to me, so English speakers and French speakers put the subject in opposite places

Several of these come from baseball and American football, which is why they resist translation: out of left field, ballpark figure, knock it out of the park and to touch base all come from baseball. Knowing that does not help you use them, but it explains why they feel arbitrary.

Tip: These cluster in meetings and email, which is exactly where a French speaker's English gets judged. If you work in English, this is the highest-value list in the guide.

8Filer à l'anglaise, and what the two languages blame on each other

A short section, because it is genuinely useful and because it illustrates the whole problem in one image.

The same act, blamed on the other country

French says filer à l'anglaise, to slip away English-style, meaning to leave without saying goodbye. English says to take French leave, meaning exactly the same thing. Two languages, one behaviour, and each attributes it to the other. If you translate either one literally you say the opposite of what you mean, because you name the wrong nationality.

French says c'est du chinois for something incomprehensible; English says it is all Greek to me
French says une histoire belge for a silly joke; English has no equivalent and says a corny joke
French says un coq-à-l'âne for a jarring change of subject; English says a non sequitur, which is Latin rather than a nationality
French says la douche écossaise for something alternating hot and cold; English says a rollercoaster, with no nationality at all

The lesson generalises well beyond these four. Idioms carry cultural attribution that does not survive translation, and the attribution is frequently the part you most need to drop. When an idiom names a nationality, an animal or a food, assume the other language chose something else.

Tip: When you meet an idiom containing a proper noun, do not try to translate it. Look up the English phrase for the situation instead, because the proper noun is exactly the element that will have changed.

9Register: formality, email, and what is safe at work

Knowing an idiom and knowing where to use it are two different skills, and for French speakers the register problem is larger than the idiom problem, because French and English put formality in different places.

Email formality

French business email closes with formulas that have no English counterpart in weight: Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées is entirely normal in French and has no English equivalent at any level. Translating it produces something absurd. Best regards is the neutral English closing, Kind regards is slightly warmer, and Best alone is normal rather than curt. Cordialement maps to Best regards.

Openings

French email opens with Bonjour and often a formal address before anything else. English opens with Hi Sarah and reaches the request in the first or second line, and this is not considered abrupt. Going straight to the point in English is politeness, not rudeness, because it respects the reader's time.

Safe everywhere, including in writing

To touch base, to follow up, to be on the same page, the tip of the iceberg, to read between the lines, low-hanging fruit and to have your hands full are neutral. You can use these in an email to a client.

Fine in speech, wrong in writing

A piece of cake, to be over the moon, under the weather, to spill the beans, once in a blue moon and to ring a bell are conversational. They are not rude, but they make a report or an application sound casual.

In an exam

Examiners reward idiomatic range but penalise idioms used slightly wrongly far more than they reward correct ones. Use two or three you are completely sure of and say the rest plainly. One well-placed to be on the same page scores better than four idioms crowded into an answer.

Tip: The single most useful register adjustment for a French speaker writing English is to cut the closing formula to two words and move the politeness into the request itself, using could you and would you mind.

10How idioms behave grammatically

Idioms are fixed in ways ordinary phrases are not. French allows a good deal of variation in choosing between near-synonyms; English idioms allow none.

The words cannot be swapped for synonyms

It is to spill the beans, never to spill the peas. To hit the nail on the head, never to strike the nail on the head. Idioms are stored whole, and changing one word breaks the phrase even when the substitute means the same thing.

The order cannot change

English idioms do not permit reordering for emphasis. Out of the bag the cat let is not a stylistic variant, it is broken.

Only the verb inflects

The verb takes tense and person and nothing else changes. He spilled the beans, she is spilling the beans, they had spilled the beans. The beans never become singular and never take an adjective.

Articles are part of the idiom

It is a piece of cake, not piece of cake. It is the tip of the iceberg, not tip of an iceberg. French uses articles more freely than English does, so this is a frequent and very audible error in both directions.

Prepositions are part of it too

English says to depend on, not depend of, and to be married to, not married with. Inside idioms this is absolute: to be on the same page, never in the same page. Learn the preposition with the phrase, never separately.

The practical consequence: learn every idiom as a complete sentence with a subject and a tense, not as a phrase in a list. A list gives you the words; a sentence gives you the shape.

Tip: Write each new idiom in the first person and the past tense: I bit the bullet and told her. That form is closest to how you will actually need it.

11Twelve sentences to correct

Each contains one error from this guide. Try each before reading the correction.

Sorry, I have a cat in my throat this morning. Correction: Sorry, I have a frog in my throat this morning.
I am not really in my plate today. Correction: I am a bit under the weather today.
That laptop costs the eyes of the head. Correction: That laptop costs an arm and a leg.
I go to the gym for a footing twice a week. Correction: I go to the gym for a run twice a week. Footing is not English.
She was completely aux anges after the interview. Correction: She was over the moon after the interview.
We see each other once every thirty-six of the month. Correction: We see each other once in a blue moon.
Sorry, I have other cats to whip this afternoon. Correction: Sorry, I have other fish to fry this afternoon.
He will finish it when hens have teeth. Correction: He will finish it when pigs fly.
It depends of the client's decision. Correction: It depends on the client's decision.
I dropped my smoking at the pressing yesterday. Correction: I dropped my dinner jacket at the dry cleaner's yesterday.
It was piece of cake for the whole team. Correction: It was a piece of cake for the whole team. The article is part of the idiom.
I am looking forward to hear from you. Correction: I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Tip: If more than four caught you, reread section three rather than section four. Section three is where the errors live; section four is only reference.

12How to learn idioms so they stay

Idiom lists have the worst retention of anything in language learning, because an idiom out of context is just a strange sentence. This is what actually works.

Meet them in audio first

An idiom carries a tone. To be fair, to be honest, at the end of the day and long story short all signal something about what is coming next, and you can only hear that in speech. Meeting an idiom in a list gives you the meaning and none of the signal, which is why you can know an idiom perfectly and still never use it.

One idiom, three sentences, out loud

Every new idiom gets three sentences of your own about your own life, spoken aloud rather than written. The mouth learns fixed phrases faster than the eye, and idioms are fixed phrases by definition.

Listen to fifteen minutes of real English audio with subtitles you can read
Stop at any phrase whose meaning you cannot get from its words, which is the definition of an idiom
Check whether French has the same image, a different image, or nothing at all
If French has a different image, write both down side by side, because that pair is where your error will come from
Say the English version aloud in three sentences of your own
Do not review it the same day; review it two days later, when you have half forgotten it
Once a week reread only the different-image pairs and skip the ones that transfer

Expect ten to fifteen usable idioms a month at this pace, which is enough to change how you sound within a term. Trying for a hundred from a list gives you a hundred you recognise and none you use.

Tip: Podcasts and interviews beat films for this, because unscripted speech is where idioms cluster. A scripted drama uses careful sentences; two people talking use idioms every few lines without noticing.

Frequently asked questions

Do French speakers really have an advantage with English idioms?

Yes, and a large one. Norman French supplied roughly a third of English vocabulary after 1066, and a substantial amount of proverb material came with it, which is why briser la glace, lire entre les lignes and une goutte d'eau dans la mer transfer exactly. The catch is that the advantage makes you stop checking, and the idioms that nearly transfer are precisely where the errors are.

Which mistakes should I fix first for an English exam?

Prepositions before idioms. Depend of, married with, discuss about and in the same page are all direct transfers from French and an examiner scoring accuracy hears every one. After that, the missing article inside fixed phrases, as in piece of cake for a piece of cake. Idiom choice costs you fewer marks than either, since an examiner can usually work out what you meant.

Are faux anglicismes really a problem, or will people work them out?

Most will simply confuse. Un footing, un brushing and un relooking will produce a blank look and a request to explain. Two are worse: un slip means something specific and different in English, and un smoking will be heard as the activity rather than the garment. Those two are worth removing deliberately rather than trusting context.

Should I use idioms in a professional email?

A few neutral ones, and only where they are shorter than the plain version. To follow up, to touch base and to be on the same page are all safe in writing. The conversational ones, like a piece of cake and over the moon, belong in speech. And keep the closing to two words: Best regards does the work of the entire French formula.

British or American idiom?

Understand both and produce whichever matches your goal. French professional contact leans British and European, so to beat about the bush, green fingers and to put your foot in it will serve most people; for North America the equivalents are to beat around the bush, a green thumb and to put your foot in your mouth. Mixing them is not an error and almost nobody notices.

How many idioms does a fluent speaker actually know?

A native adult recognises several thousand and uses a few hundred regularly. You do not need anything close to that. Around three hundred understood covers almost everything you will meet in podcasts, meetings and television, and about thirty produced confidently is enough for your English to stop sounding translated.