Clé France

If you really want to learn French, you need to know a few French expressions...

Si tu veux vraiment apprendre le Français, il faut connaître quelques expressions Françaises!

You aren’t going to find these in formal language books but equipping yourself with some of these idioms, colloquialisms and tournures de phrases (turns of phrase) will endear you to the French even if your accent betrays you.

Below are a few of the more popular French expressions along with their literal translations (or close to it) and what they mean in English.

1. Ca gaz? (Is it gassing?) – How’s it going?

2. C’est pas terrible (It’s not terrible) – It isn’t that great.

3. Et patati et patata (And blah, blah, blah,) – When someone won’t stop talking.

4. Un froid de canard (A duck’s cold) – It’s extremely cold outside.

5. Faire la grasse matinée (Doing the fat morning) – Sleeping in.

6. Avoir une araignée au plafond (Having a spider on the ceiling) – The ceiling refers to a person’s head and means that he/she is a little odd but that it doesn’t bother anyone.

7. Rentrer bredouille (Returning bredouille) – There’s no real translation for the word bredouille but it means returning empty-handed.

8. Tomber à pic (Falling at the peak) – To arrive at just the right time.

9. Avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre (Having eyes bigger than the stomach) – This refers to a person whose desire for food was larger than their stomach and they end up overeating or not being able to finish the food on their plate.

10. Mettre la charrue avant les bœufs (Placing the plow before the oxen) – This is similar to the phrase “Putting the cart before the horse” and has the same meaning.

11. Bête comme un chou (Dumb like a cabbage) – Refers to a person who is dumb, similar to the expression “Dumber than a sack of hammers/rocks.”

12. Avoir le feu au derrière (Having fire on your behind) – To be in a hurry.

13. Donner sa langue au chat (To give one’s tongue to the cat) – To give up or to stop guessing.

14. Avoir d’autres chat à fouetter (Having other cats to whip) – Similar to “Having bigger fish to fry” meaning having other things to do.

15. Boire un coup/Prendre un verre (Drink a blow/Take a glass) – To have a drink.

16. Avoir le cafard (Having the cockroach) – Feeling down or depressed.

17. Être dans de beaux draps (Being in nice sheets) – Being in a mess.

18. Dormir sur les deux oreilles (Sleeping on both ears) – Sleeping well, having restful sleep.

19. Vieux/Vieille comme Hérode (Old like Herod) – Referring to King Herod in the Bible, this simply refers to a very elderly person.

20. À fond la caisse (At full throttle) – To go real fast, especially in a vehicle.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Hi Sharon, You have been great and thank you in advance for understanding plus being patient. 

I'll wait to hear from you with any guidance etc... If you could arrange a viewing for the Corlay property that would be great.

Thank you. Melissa.

Like many other Melissa is working with us to build up a little portfolio of properties to view in Cotes d'Armor and Morbihan in the region of Brittany, we can use a clients property criteria to narrow down the search saving them time and making sure that their viewing trip is the best use of their time and that no time is wasted viewing property in France that is not suitable.

Hi Sharon,

Sorry for the delay in replying but internet access was not easy to find all the time where we were.

Very impressed with your agent on the ground in Brittany, he showed us numerous houses and one which wasn’t on our list but which we finally decided to buy! everyone was very helpful, we went into the office to sign the compromis agreement, just waiting to finalise everything over here (in Scotland) now and look forward to getting the key!

I must add, buying a house in France is a much nicer prospect than at home. I’m afraid we are still in the dark ages here when it comes to property.

Thanks for all your help so far.

Regards, Alan.

Many people buy the house they see on our website and arrange to view BUT many more buy something else we show them whilst in France. The market is moving all the time so between booking a viewing and the actual day of the viewing we are working to make sure there are other properties to show our clients during their viewing trip in France.

Alan is buying a beautiful house in the department of Morbihan in southern Brittany.

The government in France tries to keep down the price of housing so that it is affordable for everyone. One of the ways this is achieved is by having a limit on the profit to be made through speculation. So should a property be bought and then sold on, purely for speculative purposes, the maximum profit that can be made is seven-twelfths of the buying price. If a larger sum is made then the authorities have the right to confiscate the difference and return it to the original owner.

This may seem like a restriction of trade etc., but at least people can afford to buy a house which is more than can be said for many people in Britain! The government also runs a scheme for French first-time buyers by which a youngster who has rented a house for two years, and can prove he has not defaulted on the rent then the government will give him a 100% mortgage at 0% interest.

Profits on the sale of a second home are also quite highly-taxed; in the case of a resident in France the tax is 26% of the profit, and 16% for a non-resident. This is the case for the first five years of ownership and then on a reducing scale over the next ten at which point it drops to zero.

There is also a sanction in so far that the mayors of towns and villages, should they want, have the right to pre-empt any house purchase in their area. So should an outsider come along and wants to buy a house, puts in an offer and it is accepted, then the deal has first to go before the mayor and if he thinks too many houses are being sold as second homes, then he has the right to buy it for the price accepted, and it can be sold on to a local.

This means that villages can ensure they never become second home or dormitory settlements where inevitably trade and most other activities disappear.  This is called looking after your constituents.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.

Hi Sharon,

The Languedoc-Roussillon is a beautiful region where I feel at home. Let me know if you have any thoughts or see any possibilities relevant to the property context I describe.

Sincere thanks for your excellent follow-through and your colleagues pleasant approach to our visit in Hérault and the specific house for sale.

Sincerely, Monique.

Monique asked us to arrange several viewings for her in the Hérault department of Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south west of France recently - viewing with our multiple agents but only having to arrange everything with our UK office really helps people make the most of their viewing time in France.