Would you like to speak like a native ? Then you need to look at these 50 French idioms to impress the locals with your fantastic French š«š· ! Idiom NĀ°1 today, one more each day, soon you will master all the intricacies of the French language !
What are French idioms ?
a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own
Cambridge dictionary
In other words, knowing the meaning of the individual words won’t tell you what it means, you have to understand it as a whole.
Why learn French idioms ?
There are many reasons why one would want to learn French idioms to name but a few :
- They are very common and therefore useful to know !
- They build your vocabulary in a fun way
- They have the waow factor ! Knowing them will impress the locals !
- They are funny sometimes !
- They are part of the pareto law 20/80 : 20% of what you do will bring you 80% of the result.
There are hundreds of French idioms, if you learn 50 or one a day and put it into practice, you will have more than enough to excel in French. š
What type of French courses do you think would suit you, would you mind telling me ? Here is the Monkey Survey (1 min) designed to that effect. Thanks š±
Without further ado, let’s start with the first of the 50 French idiomatic expressions. š
French idiom NĀ°1
Avoir le coup de foudre = “to be struck by lightning ” ! ā”ļø
What do you think this means ?
We have a few clues on the picture, namely :
Thunder ā”ļø = “la foudre”
Heart ā¤ļø = “le coeur”
the hit š„ = “le coup”
Could this be love ?
Yes, “to be struck by lightning” in French means “to fall in love” ! ā¤ļø
Examples of “avoir le coup de foudre” !
“J’ai rencontrĆ© mon mari Ć un soirĆ©e avec des amis et le coup de foudre fut immĆ©diat ”
š¬š§ “I met my husband at a friends’ party and I immediately fell in love”
But sorry boys or girls, it is not only about you ! š
“J’ai le coup de foudre pour le nouveau sac de Louis Vitton”
š¬š§ “I am in love with Louis Vitton’s new bag”
Avoir le coup de foudre : origin
This French expression appears in the XVII century, lightning is considered as a sudden and unpleasant event which generates a lot of emotion : fear and stupefaction.š«
“Le coup” which is the point at which the lightning strikes and makes a loud noise is therefore brutal and impressive. ā”ļø It is then associated to feelings and emotions.
“La foudre” which is the actual lightning is associated to rapidity for the speed at which it strikes but also the fire that it creates. š„ Fire is synonym of passion. The two together makes up the expression “avoir le coup de foudre” as to fall in love is a sudden event that creates a lot of emotions š
VoilĆ , this was todayās idiom, I hope you liked it.
I am a French teacher, please see my students testimonials here.š©āššØāš
Donāt hesitate to contact me if you need any French class or are interested in my new learning course. Contact me here.
Please feel free to comment this article, your opinion matters. Click on the green logo on your left to access the comment box straight away !
And Iāll see you tomorrow for a new French idiom !
Happy learning ! š¬š§šā¤ļø
Don't miss your free bonus !
- Sign up to discover my sensational Nail the French Conjugation Table !
- All you will ever need to conjugate in French effortless !
- A must-have reference !
- Simply sign up to my newsletter and I will send it to you for free !
I hate spam and will therefore not communicate your details to anyone.
