FlexiLingo
7 French idioms with animals, and what they really mean
French is full of idioms that are borrowed from the animal world, and once you know them you'll start hearing them everywhere. In this episode, Max walks you through seven of the most common ones, from "avoir le cafard" to "se jeter dans la gueule du loup", with the literal meaning, the real meaning, and an example for each. ➡️ Click here to watch the video version of this episode. ➡️ Get free mini-lessons and language tips every week by signing up to our newsletter: https://coffeebreaklanguages.kit.com/newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acas...
Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.
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C2 · Proficient
Native speed and range
- 97% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 113 words a minute: slow, clear speech.
- 16 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
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Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.
going to focus on some expressions involving hands with teeth, ants in your legs, cockroaches,
. .
Indeed, today we're going to talk about seven French animal idioms that make absolutely
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8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.
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Is this episode right for you?
C2 · Proficient
Native speed and range
- 97% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 113 words a minute: slow, clear speech.
- 16 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
Salut c'est Max de Coffee Break French. French language can be quite odd and today we're going to focus on some expressions involving hands with teeth, ants in your legs, cockroaches, drowning a fish etc etc. And somehow all of these make complete sense to a French person. Indeed, today we're going to talk about seven French animal idioms that make absolutely
no sense when translated literally. Here's how it's going to work. I'll give you first the French expression, then I will translate it literally into English, and trust me, most of the time there will be no help at all.
And then I'll give you an example sentence with a bit more context to see if you can guess the actual meaning. note of course I will give you the actual meaning in English. Allez, on Iva! Here's the first one. Avoire le caffar. Avoire le caffar.
That was the opening. The rest of the episode (6 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.
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