Useful french idioms and expressions (1)

FRENCH IDIOMS	LITERALY	MEANING
A l’article de la mort	On the brink of death	On the brink of death
A la mords-moi le nœud	At the bite me the knot (finger, rush, nose…)	Something stupid (c’est vraiment un film à la mord moi le nœud!)
A la noix	to the nut	Something stupid
Accorder ses violons	Tuning your violins	To reach an agreement
Aller à vau-l’eau	Going down the drain	Going down the drain
Aller comme un gant	Go like a glove	Go like a glove
Aller de l’avant	Moving forward	Moving forward
Aller droit au but	Get to the point	Get to the point
Amuser la galerie	Entertain the gallery	Entertain the people at the party
Arrêter les frais	Stop the charges	No more damage (or wasting money)
Arriver à bon port	Getting to the right port	Getting to the right place without any trouble
Arroser un événement	Watering an event	To celebrate an event
Attendre au tournant	Waiting at the turn	Expecting something
Au compte-gouttes	In the dropper	Scarcely
Avec les moyens du bord	With the means at hand	With the means at hand
Avoir / Prendre la grosse tête	Having / Taking the big head	Having / Taking the big head
Avoir beau + verbe	To have beautiful + verb	May well do (sthg)
Avoir du blé	Having wheat	To have a lot of cash
Avoir du bol	To have a bowl	To be lucky
Avoir du pain sur la planche	Having a lot of work to do	Having a lot of work to do
Avoir du plomb dans l’aile	Having lead in the wing	Having lead in the wing
Avoir du pot	To have a pot	To be lucky
Avoir la crève	To have the death	To have a cold
Avoir la flemme	To be lazy	To be lazy
Avoir la gueule de bois	To have a face of wood	Hangover
Avoir la mémoire courte	Have a short memory	Have a short memory
Avoir le feu vert	To have the green light	To have the green light
Avoir le mal de mer	To have the sea bad	Getting seasick
Avoir plus d’un tour dans son sac	Having more than one trick in your bag	Having more than one trick in your bag
Avoir son mot à dire	To have a word to say	Having a say in the matter
Avoir un appétit d’ogre	Have an ogre’s appetite	Have an ogre’s appetite
Avoir un bon coup de fourchette	Have a good fork shot	Have a good fork shot
avoir un compte à régler avec quelqu’un	have a score to settle with someone	have a score to settle with someone
Avoir un coup de barre / Avoir un coup de pompe	To be struck by a bar	To be tired suddenly
Avoir un coup de foudre	Love at first sight	Love at first sight
Avoir un grain	Have a grain	To be crazy
Avoir un petit creux	Have a little curve	To be a little bit hungry
Avoir un trou de mémoire	To have a hole in your memory	have a blackout
Avoir une peur bleue de	To have a blue fear of…	Being scared to death of
Avoir/crever la dalle	Have/Dying the tile	To be really hungry
Battre en retraite	Fight to retreat	Retreating
Blanchir de l’argent	Whitening money	Laundering money
Boire comme un trou	Drinking like a hole	To drink a lot
Boire un coup	Have a drink	Have a drink
Bon vent !	Good wind !	Good luck with that!
Bouquiner	From ‘Bouquin’ (slang for ‘to read’)	Bookshop
Bousiller quelque chose	To screw something up.	To screw something up.
C’est le jour et la nuit	It’s day and night	It’s day and night
C’est le monde à l’envers	It’s the world upside down	It’s the world upside down
C’est simple comme bonjour	It’s easy as hello	It’s as simple as that.
C’est donné	It’s given	It’s given
C’est long comme un jour sans pain	It’s as long as a day without bread	It’s a very long day
C’est pas demain la veille	It’s not tomorrow the day before	It’s not too soon
C’est pas sorcier	It’s not sorcery.	It’s not rocket science.
C’est un vrai sac de nœuds	It’s a real bag of knots.	It’s a real bag of knots.
Ça craint…	It sucks….	It sucks….