Posted on by Ulrike Rettig

French "avoir": 20 expressions and 2 language games

French "avoir" = English "to have" Today we'll take a look at the French verb "avoir", with 20 expressions and 2 language games for practice.

In English "avoir" means "to have", as in "j'ai un soeur" - "I have a sister". But "avoir" also appears in many idiomatic expressions, which are often used in daily conversations.

For some of the expressions, the meaning is pretty obvious. These are the ones that typically combine a form of the verb "avoir" with a noun. In idiomatic English you would use either just a verb, or the verb "to be" plus an adjective. For example: "Elle a du charme" - "She's charming."

For other expressions, it's hard to guess what they really mean. That's because you cannot easily infer the meaning from the individual words.

In either case, idiomatic expressions are fun to use and will make your French sound more natural.
(You'll find the 2 French language games, one to practice the Present Tense, the other with the Passé Composé, below after the 20 French expressions.)

20 Common French Expressions

1. avoir besoin de

Meaning: to need
Literally: to have need of
Sentence: Tu as besoin de quelque chose ? (Do you need anything?)

2. avoir faim

Meaning: to be hungry
Literally: to have hunger
Sentence: J'ai vraiment faim. (I'm really hungry.)

3. il y a

Meaning: there is, there are
Literally: it here/there has
Sentences: Désolé, il y a erreur. (Sorry, there's a mistake.)
Il y a beaucoup de monde à la plage. (There are a lot of people at the beach.)
Il y a du soleil aujourd'hui. (It's sunny today.)

4. il y a + time phrase

Meaning: - ... ago
Literally: it here/there has
Sentences: Je l'ai vu il y a deux semaines. (I saw him two weeks ago.)
Je l'ai connu il y a quelques années. (I met him a few years ago.)

5. avoir l'air

Meaning: to look, seem
Literally: to have the air
Sentences: Ce gâteau a l'air bon. (This cake looks good!)
Tu as l'air fatigué. (You look tired.)
Il a l'air triste. (He looks sad.)

6. avoir envie de [qch] 

Meaning: to want [sth]
Literally: to have wish/desire of [sth]
Sentence: Tu as envie d'une glace? (Do you want an ice cream?)

7. avoir envie de faire

Meaning: to want to do, feel like doing
Literally: to have desire to do
Sentence: J'ai envie de voyager. (I want to travel.)

8. avoir soif

Meaning: to be thirsty
Literally: to have thirst
Sentence: Oui, nous avons soif. (Yes, we are thirsty.)

9. avoir mal à la tête 

Meaning: to have a headache
Literally: to have ache in the head
Sentence: Il a toujours mal à la tête. (He always has a headache.)

10. avoir peur de 

Meaning: to be afraid of [sth, sb]
Literally: to have fear of
Sentences: Ils ont peur de moi. (They are afraid of me.)
Moi, j'ai peur des araignées. (Me, I'm afraid of spiders.)

11. avoir de la peine à faire [qch]

Meaning: to have trouble doing [sth]
Literally: to have some pain/trouble/effort/sorrow
Sentences: J'ai de la peine à comprendre ça. (I have trouble understanding that.)
J'ai de la peine à croire ça. (I can hardly believe that.)

12. avoir des soucis 

Meaning: to be worried, have problems
Literally: to have some worries/trouble
Sentence: Je sais qu'il a des soucis d'argent. (I know that he has money worries.) 

13. avoir tort

Meaning: to be wrong
Literally: to have fault
Sentence: Tu as tort, ce n'est pas le mien. (You're wrong, that's not mine.)

14. avoir lieu

Meaning: to take place
Literally: to have place
Sentence: Ce marché a lieu tous les samedis. (This market takes place every Saturday.)

15. avoir X ans

Meaning: to be X years old
Literally: to have X years
Sentences: Il a quel âge? (How old is he?)
Il a vingt ans. (He's twenty.)

16. avoir le cafard 

Meaning: to be depressed, feel blue
Literally: to have the cockroach
Sentence: Ma soeur ne veut pas sortir. Elle a le cafard. (My sister doesn't want to go out. She's depressed.)

17. avoir beau + infinitive

Meaning: to do something in vain
Literally: to have beautiful
Sentence: J'ai beau essayer, je n'y arrive pas. (However hard I try, I just can't do it. )

18. avoir beau jeu

Meaning: to be easy [to do sth]
Literally: to have beautiful game
Sentence: Il a beau jeu de protester. (It's easy for him to protest.)

19. avoir du pain sur la planche

Meaning: to have a lot to do
Literally: to have bread on the shelf
Sentence: Je ne peux sortir ce soir, j'ai du pain sur la planche. (I can't go out this evening, I'm swamped.)

20. en avoir marre de

Meaning: to be fed up with/sick of
Literally: It's unclear what the origin of "marre" is.
Sentences: J'en ai marre de faire mes devoirs. (I'm sick of doing homework.)
J'en ai marre de cette voiture. (I'm fed up with this car.)

The verb "avoir" is frequently used in conversations, both in its meaning "to have", or as part of idiomatic expressions. Becoming familiar with its forms is a good start. So, go ahead and try those two games below.

2 French language games for fun practice

screen shot of French Language Game: avoir - Present TenseThe first French language game lets you practice the present tense forms of "avoir", and five of the idiomatic expressions above.

With many verbs, the French passé composé is formed with the present tense of "avoir".

Screenshot of French Language Game: Passé Composé with "avoir"In the second French language game, you can review several passé composé forms with "avoir". You would use this tense in French to talk about a one-time event or action that took place in the past.

Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She's a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments right here!

Posted on by Ulrike Rettig

Apples, Butter, Rain and More in French Idioms

 Three ApplesBelow are 12 French idioms that you might not have heard yet.

In our last post, Sausages, Fruits, Ships, and more in German Idioms, we listed a number of typical German expressions. In fact, what prompted us to write that post, was overhearing a German woman "translate" a German idiom into French by giving a literal equivalent.

In their literal translation, many French idioms are also confusing to a German or English speaker. (Whenever available, I added a French synonym from Le Petit Robert, a popular French language dictionary.)

1. Haut comme trois pommes

Idiom: knee-high to a grasshopper
Literally: as high as three apples (Photo by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash)
Explanation: Refers to someone who is not very tall, or just very young.
Origin: Even if you put three apples on top of each other, what you have is still not very high.

2. Tomber dans les pommes

Idiom: to pass out
Literally: to fall into the apples
Explanation: to faint, lose consciousness [Petit Robert: s'évanouir]
Origin: This expression first appeared in 1889 and may go back to the writer George Sand, who used "être dans les pommes cuites", a play on "être cuit" (to be cooked, exhausted).

3. Mettre du beurre dans les épinardsSpinach in pan

Idiom: to put butter on your bread
Literally: to put butter on the spinach (Photo by Kim Daniels on Unsplash)
Explanation: It means to earn a bit extra, to top up your income, or to improve a situation that is troublesome. [Petit Robert: améliorer sa situation]
Origin: This expression goes back to a time when butter symbolized wealth, while spinach was a common vegetable. Putting butter on your spinach makes it taste better, richer.

4. Vouloir le beurre et l'argent du beurre

Idiom: to have your cake and eat it too
Literally: to want the butter and the money for the butter too
Explanation: You can't have it both ways, you can't have it all.
Origin: This expression appeared at the end of the 19th century and is a piece of good old fashioned common sense (bon sens paysan). Once you sell the butter, you have the money, but no longer the butter. Or, in other words, to get something you want you may have to give up something else.

Rainbow at Arcachon, France5. Parler de la pluie et du beau temps

Idiom: to make small talk
Literally: to talk about rain and nice weather
Explanation: It means talking about trivial things, exchanging chit-chat. [Petit Robert: dire des banalités]
Origin: The weather is an innocuous subject to talk about, so it's a safe topic among strangers or a way to talk around topics you want to avoid.

6. Faire la pluie et le beau temps

Idiom: to call the shots
Literally: to make rain and good weather
Explanation: It means to be in charge, to control the situation or determine what action should be taken [Petit Robert: être très influent]
Origin: The idiom is said to go back to mythical times when the gods had power over the world. They could change the weather, create storms, hurl lightning, etc.

7. Ce n’est pas la mer à boire.Looking at the ocean

Idiom: It's not that big a deal.
Literally: It's not the sea to drink.
Explanation: This is a metaphor for something that's impossible or very difficult to do. It's also used in its opposite meaning: C'est la mer à boire - it's very difficult. [Petit Robert: C'est, ce n'est pas difficile.]
Origin: The expression dates back to a 17th century fable by Jean de la Fontaine.

8. Chercher midi à quatorze heures

Idiom: to make a mountain out of a molehill
Literally: to look for noon at 2 pm
Explanation: To complicate things unnecessarily, to see difficulties where there aren't any. [Petit Robert: Chercher des difficultés où il n'y en a pas, compliquer les choses.]
Origin: This expression is said to date back to the 17th century as "chercher midi à onze heures" (to look for noon at 11o'clock), to look for something where's it's not.

Rolled in the flour9. Se faire rouler dans la farine

Idiom: to be taken for a ride
Literally: to get rolled in the flour (Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash)
Explanation: to be fooled, taken in, be cheated  [Petit Robert: tromper]
Origin: Flour-based makeup was often used in the theater and allowed actors to change how they looked and thus fool the audience.

10. Il ne faut pas mélanger les torchons et les serviettes.

Idiom: Don't mix apples and oranges.
Literally: One mustn't mix up dishtowels and napkins.
Explanation: Don't mix totally different things, don't combine things that are completely different. [Petit Robert: Il faut séparer, traiter différemment selon leur condition sociale, les choses selon leur valeur.]
Origin: This expression is based on the idea that you must not mix social levels - dishtowels were for servants and the poor, while napkins were for the bourgeoisie and aristocracy.

11. Ce n'est pas la mort du petit cheval.Small horse in grass

Idiom: It's not the end of the world.
Literally: It's not the death of the little horse. (Photo by Soledad Lorieto on Unsplash)
Explanation: It's not the worst thing that could happen. It's not as bad as it seems, even though it's a disappointment.
Origin: According to an article in Le Figaro by Claude Duneton, the expression "la mort du petit cheval" was probably coined in the 1930s and referred to losing one's bet on a horse that didn't win the race.

The expression was picked up by d'Hervé Bazin in the title of his 1950 novel: "La mort du petit cheval." In it, the protagonist makes a shocking discovery about his mother but decides that it's not the end of the world.

12. Avaler des couleuvres

Idiom: to swallow a lie
Literally: to swallow grass snakes
Explanation: to be taken in, to believe anything, to take insults without protest  [Petit Robert: subir des affronts sans protester, croire n'importe quoi]
Origin: This expression came up already in the 17th century and suggests swallowing something slithery, tortuous. The image evokes unscrupulous people who in the olden days added a few grass snakes to a plate of eels without telling their guests or customers.

Learning a few French idioms is not only fun, but it may very well break the conversational ice next time you try out your French, on zoom or in real life.

For the French idioms that are listed here, I looked at a few different sites. You can find out more about these expressions, or search for new ones on the following sites (not linked here): www.thoughtco.com  www.lawlessfrench.com/expressions
I consulted Le Petit Robert, a single-volume French dictionary, for synonyms in French and added them to the explanations.

Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She's a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments right here!

Posted on by Ulrike Rettig

Other Cats to Whip? Learning French Idioms With a Delightful Book.

Other Cats to whip - Gamesforlanguage.comWhat's so great about learning idioms in another language? An idiom is a characteristic expression whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of the words in it.

So, here's what idioms can do for you: They take you right into the foreign mindset and give you a different taste of a language and culture. They make you sound like a native. They help you fit in.

Knowing some common idioms helps you to understand and participate in conversations. But ... you must also learn to pronounce an idiom correctly. And, you have to use the idiom in the right context.

We were recently provided with a free copy of the eBook: Other Cats to Whip - The Book of French Idioms by its authors, Zubair Arshad and Graham Clark. For anyone striving beyond a basic knowledge of French, this book is an enjoyable resource.

Its French title “D'autres chats à fouetter” translates to “Other fish to fry,” but an embarrassing mispronunciation of the French title – can you guess? - lies at its core.

Graham Clark describes in the book's introduction how he tried to drop the French title phrase into a conversation with his boss in Marseille. Whoops ... The book's authors are therefore serious about their warning: “Enjoy these idioms, but just be careful how you use them!”

So, do you dare to learn these idioms?

The Set-up

The book gives you 40 common French idioms, each presented with a funny, memorable cartoon illustration. Then, for each idiom, you see two essential vocabulary items, plus the literal and the idiomatic translation in English. And, for each idiom you get a sentence that uses it in a conversational context.

Here are four features of the book that are especially helpful for language learning:

LEARNING WITH IMAGES

Many idioms say something about human foibles or characteristic human behavior. Because of that, an idiom tends to evoke a vivid image. That in itself is fun, but the image also helps you to remember the expression.

Not surprisingly, many of the images in this book involve animals, 18 of the 40 to be exact. Animals are just wonderful dramatic subjects that let us hold a humorous mirror to our ourselves. But you'll also find idioms with food images (not a surprise either), and those that contain parts of the body or commonplace objects.décoiffer la giraffe - Ruxandra by Gamesforlanguage.com

The clever and funny illustrations, created by Ruxandra, pick up the literal meaning of the images, and these truly will stay in your mind.

For example, the expression "décoiffer la giraffe" (literally, to mess up the giraffe's hair), means "to do something difficult".

Think about it, considering the giraffe's height and hairstyle, and keeping the cartoon in mind, will you ever forget this expression now? 

sortir de la gueule d'une vache - Ruxandra by GamesforLanguage.comLEARNING VOCABULARY

For each of the idioms, you are given two basic items of vocabulary. So, as a minimum, you'll have 80 words, mostly nouns and verbs. You'll learn these naturally, as they show up in context, and not categorized as in a French grammar book

You'll learn a wide  range of common verbs, such as “s'occuper” (to mind, take care of), “tirer” (to pull), “craindre” (be afraid of), “sortir” (to go out), “tomber” (to fall), etc. and everyday nouns such as “échelle” (ladder), “haricot” (bean), “gueule” (slang for mouth, face), “huître” (oyster), “ours” (bear), etc.

Above all, you'll learn that the literal translation of an idiom may be potentially funny, but not especially helpful for the meaning. Sometimes guessing the meaning can really lead you astray.

Consider the expression “sortir de la gueule d'une vache” (literally, to come out of the mouth of a cow), which, for example when referring to a shirt, means “to be creased or wrinkled.” Would you have guessed that one if it came up in a conversation?

LEARNING IDIOMATIC GRAMMAR

In the collection of expressions and the sentences in which they are used, you'll see a variety of grammatical structures. Again, you'll learn these as they come up and not as part of a grammar paradigm.
The grammar in the se faire prendre pour un pigeon - Ruxandra by Gamesforlanguage.comEnglish translation is often quite different from the grammar in the French original. Because of that, you'll tend to internalize the whole of the French idiom - grammar and all - as a chunk of vocabulary.

Just look at these sentences which use idioms in context: "L'appartement est trop cher, tu te fais prendre pour un pigeon. " (The apartment is too expensive, you're being taken for a ride.) Or: "Tu ne peux pas aller au travail come ça, mon chérie, ta chemise est sortie de la gueule d'une vache !" (You can't go to work like that darling, your shirt is all creased!) 

Thus by acquiring the structures of a series of idioms, you're also learning essential conversational grammar.


LEARNING LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT

When using an idiom, you have to be absolutely sure that you understand what it means and that you're using it in the correct context. Some expressions are more informal or slangy than others, so be careful of that, too. 
Different languages use different images for corresponding idioms. The image at the center of an idiom in one language may have different connotations in another language.
In other languages, for example, the informal French expression “ne pas avoir la lumière à tous les étages” (literally, not to have lights on every floor; meaning: to be stupid) translates into rather different images.ne pas avoir la lumière à tous les étages - Ruxandra by Gamesforlanguage.com

In English, you say “to have a screw loose.”
In Spanish, you might say “faltar un tornillo” (to be short of a screw).
In Italian, it's “mancare una rotella” (to be missing a small wheel).
In German, you would say “nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben” (not to have all cups in the cupboard).

Would you have guessed any one of those right off the bat?

Other Cats to Whip - The Book of French Idioms” will surely make you laugh and learn some French. I think it's a perfect gift for anyone learning or teaching French!

Purchase Options

The book is available for The paperback book is shipped from the UK. The most economical option (including shipping) for the US audience is to buy through the author's website. The paperback book is also available on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com. The eBook version is available on the author's website as well as on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.

Disclosure: Gamesforlanguage.com has no business relationship with the book's authors other than having received a free eBook. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for further details.