French Idioms and their English meanings

An idiom is a phrase or an expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. They are usually established in language by their common usage.

Idioms are often different from a country to another country.

Here’s a few French idioms and phrases and their equivalence in English

French Idiom Literally Translated English Idiom
Il pleut des cordes It rains ropes  It rains cats and dogs
Quand les poules auront des dents When the hen will have teeth When pigs fly
On ne peut pas etre au four et au moulin You can’t be at the oven and at the mill One can’t be in two places at once
Ce n’est pas ma tasse de thé It is not my cup of tea It’s not my bowl of rice
Filer á l’anglaise To take English leave Take French leave
Avoir le vent en poupe To have the wind in one’s sails All wheels in motion
Noyer le poisson to drown the fish To beat around the bush
Jamais deux sans trois Never two without three Never twice without thrice
Courir sur le haricot To run on the bean  To get on someone’s nerve
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