French Idioms

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2016-03-07

An idiom is an expression that cannot be translated word-for-word into another language.

For example:

Tu ne sens pas la rose !

In English, this literally means "You don't smell like a rose." However, the idiomatic translation is "You stink!"

Another example:

avoir besoin de

In English, this literally means "to have need of" but is translated as "to need".