French Expressions and Idioms
Have you heard of “idiomatic expressions”? These are figurative expressions specific to French, that are usually not translatable directly, as each language uses its own references! Therefore, you need to learn them directly in the language, as well as learning French equivalents to the ones you use in English! Knowing idiomatic expressions is key when learning a new language and it will definitely help you sound like a true Français 😊
✍️ Today’s French expression is:
“Être un rat de bibliothèque”
🎧 Here’s a podcast about it!
Want to learn more about this fun expression, what it means, and hear some in-context examples? Then listen to Aurélie and Céline‘s related podcast below:
🐀📚 Some context
The French expression être un rat de bibliothèque (literally “to be a library rat”) dates back to the 18th century. It was inspired by the actual rodents that crept into dark archive rooms to gnaw on old paper and book bindings. It also follows a classic French pattern of using “rat of [a place]” to describe someone who spends a lot of time in a specific spot, much like a church rat or an opera dancer (petit rat de l’Opéra). While the phrase originally carried a slightly negative connotation, describing a reclusive person with purely bookish knowledge, today – much like its English equivalent, “bookworm” – it is used neutrally or affectionately to describe avid readers and dedicated researchers who love spending their time immersed in books.
👀 How about some examples?
To help you commit this expression to memory, here are some useful examples of how to use it in context:
- Mon frère passe tous ses samedis après-midi à la médiathèque ; c’est un vrai rat de bibliothèque.
- Pendant la rédaction de sa thèse de doctorat, Léa est devenue un véritable rat de bibliothèque.
- Ma fille Leila a toujours été un vrai petit rat de bibliothèque : elle dévorait tous les livres qui lui passaient sous la main.
- Ce n’est qu’après avoir découvert l’univers du” Seigneur des Anneaux” que je suis devenu un authentique rat de bibliothèque.
🤩 Enjoy a special Fill-in-the-Blanks exercise!
With this great Fill-in-the-Blanks exercise featuring our new expression, you get to practise your French grammar while getting another in-context use of the expression “être un rat de bibliothèque” to help you remember it 🤗 Que demander de plus ?
- Souvenirs d’un rat de bibliothèque (L’Imparfait) – A2
🙌 Now is your time to shine!
Challenge yourself to use these expressions in a French conversation or piece of writing, and let us know what you thought of this expression, share your idiomatic sentences, and tell us how your French friends reacted to it – en français bien sûr – in the comments below ☺️
À toi de jouer !
Author info
Aurélie is our resident French Expert. She has created most of the wonderful content you see on the site and is usually the person answering your tricky help questions. She comes from a small village near Chartres in Central France, country of cereal fields and not much else. She left (in a hurry) to study English at the world-famous Sorbonne in Paris, before leaving France in 2007 to experience the “London lifestyle” - and never looked back! She's worked as a professional French teacher, translator and linguist in the UK since. She loves to share her love of languages and is a self-professed cinema and literature geek!
For over ten years now, Céline has been teaching French and Italian to students of all ages and abilities in the UK. This French native speaker comes from Brittany, and likes crafts, Breton dance (of course!) and Breton music which she actually played for four years. She also has a fondness for European cinema and British History.