Faire la grasse matinée in English : French idiom N°12

Faire la grasse matinée in English is to sleep late in the morning.

Faire la grasse matinée means literally to ‘do the fat or greasy morning’
It can be shortened to ‘faire la grasse mat’.

At the beginning of the 16th century, it was said “dormir la grasse matinée ” = to sleep a fat morning.
The term ‘fat’ can be understood here as associated with a soft and creamy thing, as can be a bed in which one can bask for a long time with pleasure according to the figaro
But it can also come from the Latin crassus or “thick”, to designate a morning “thicker” than the others because it is prolonged.
This is one of this morning when you stay in bed late, for example on Sunday, you do not need to be sleeping but there is no hurry to get up anyway ! Your mantra is definitely not “The early bird catches the worm” 😂

It means to have a lie in.
I have a lie in in French = Je fais la grasse matinée
I had a lie in French = J’ai fait la grasse matinée
I will have a lie in in French = je ferai la grasse matinée. Voilà 🙂

1. J’aime faire la grasse matinée = I like having a lie in
2. C’est dimanche demain donc je peux faire la grasse matinée = It is Sunday tomorrow so I can have a lie-in.
3. Tu as un examen ce matin, ce n’est pas le moment de faire la grasse matinée = You have an exam today so it is not the time to have a lie-in.
4. Je me réjouis d’être en vacances pour pouvoir faire la grasse matinée = I’m looking forward to be on holiday to have a lie in.
5. Quand je ne travaille pas le matin, je fais la grasse matinée = when I don’t work in the morning, I sleep late

This is what Emile Zola, the French novelist said : ‘La société, sauvée encore une fois, se félicitait, se reposait, faisait la grasse matinée, maintenant qu’un gouvernement fort la protégeait, which means ‘Society, saved once again, congratulated itself, rested, had a lie-in, now that a strong government was protecting it.’

You could say : J’aime ….
– dormir
– buller
– musarder
– garder les pieds en éventail (keep my feet up)
– flemmarder
or you could say like the famous Belgian cartoon character Gaston Lagaffe :
‘J’ai la flemme’. Learn about this French expression.

In your French speaking or French writing exam, you could use this French expression to describe your likes and describe, describe your personality or talk about your daily like in French, for examples :
– J’adore faire la grasse matinée = I love having a lie in
– Je déteste faire la grasse matinée = I hate having a lie in
– Je fais la grasse matinée tous les dimanches = I have a lie in every Sunday
– Quand j’étais jeune, je faisais beaucoup la grasse matinée = when I was younger I used to sleep late a lot
– Quand je travaille, je me lève tôt et n’ai pas l’occasion de faire une grasse matinée = When I work, I get up early and don’t get the chance to have a lie in
– J’aimerais ne pas devoir me lever tôt le matin pour pouvoir faire la grasse matinée = I would like not to have to get up early in the morning so that I can have a lie in.