{"id":118047,"date":"2023-04-05T04:23:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T08:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/advanced-french-expressions\/"},"modified":"2025-02-16T22:39:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T03:39:03","slug":"advanced-french-expressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/advanced-french-expressions\/","title":{"rendered":"52 Advanced French Expressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, we\u2019re going to look at advanced French expressions that use words you probably already know\u2014but with a twist.\u00a0These are the kinds of phrases that translation apps\u00a0like Google Translate may or may not get right,\u00a0because they often use idiomatic language<\/a> and alternative meanings of words.<\/p>\n

While it might be intimidating to see how many meanings these words can have, taking a look at the different phrases that use a particular word should give you a deeper understanding of its role in the language.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Advanced phrases with the word prendre<\/em> (to take)<\/h2>\n

Prendre cong\u00e9<\/em> (to leave, to take off)<\/h3>\n

Le repas est termin\u00e9. Je vais\u00a0<\/em>prendre cong\u00e9<\/em>.
\n<\/strong>(The meal is over. I\u2019m going to take off.)<\/p>\n

The literal translation is a little easier here for English speakers since you can think of \u201ctaking leave<\/a>.\u201d This expression often refers to taking time off work, or taking a \u201cleave of absence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prendre la poudre d\u2019escampette <\/em>(to use escape powder)<\/h3>\n

Il a pris la poudre d\u2019escampette<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(He\u2019s made a quick exit.)<\/p>\n

Escampette\u00a0<\/em>comes from old French for \u201cescape\u201d or \u201cflight.\u201d So, this is an idiom for when someone makes a quick exit, like a magician using a dash of powder to seemingly vanish in a puff of smoke.<\/p>\n

Prendre conscience<\/em>\u00a0(to become aware\/to realize)<\/h3>\n

Il faut prendre conscience<\/strong> que\u00a0cela a d\u00fb \u00eatre difficile pour elle de partir dans ces conditions.
\n<\/em>(We need to realize that it must have been difficult for her to leave in those circumstances.)<\/p>\n

Prendre une d\u00e9cision<\/em> (to make a decision)<\/h3>\n

Il faut prendre une d\u00e9cision<\/strong> avant demain.
\n<\/em>(We need to make a decision before tomorrow.)<\/p>\n

Note that in English you \u201cmake\u201d a decision, whereas here you \u201ctake\u201d one.<\/p>\n

Prendre parti pour<\/em> (to take sides with)<\/h3>\n

Il a pris parti<\/strong> pour<\/strong> la meilleure \u00e9quipe<\/em>.
\n(He took sides with the best team.)<\/p>\n

To remember this one, it might be helpful for English speakers to think of \u201ctaking someone\u2019s part<\/a>\u201d in an argument, for example.<\/p>\n

Just be aware that parti<\/em><\/strong> doesn\u2019t actually translate to the English word \u201cpart\u201d by itself. Confusingly, though, partie<\/em><\/strong>-with-an-e\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>can refer to a part or section of something, while\u00a0parti <\/em>can refer to a political party, but neither of them refers to the kind of party-with-a-y in English that often includes food, drinks and music.<\/p>\n

Prendre rendez-vous<\/em> (to make an appointment)<\/h3>\n

Avez-vous pris rendez-vous<\/strong> chez le m\u00e9decin ?
\n<\/em>(Did you make an appointment with the doctor?)<\/p>\n

Here is another instance where you need to watch out for the \u201cmake\u201d\/\u201ctake\u201d switch.<\/p>\n

Se prendre pour le nombril du monde <\/em>(to consider yourself the navel of the world)<\/h3>\n

Ces filles<\/em> se prennent pour le nombril du monde<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(These girls are self-important.)<\/p>\n

This is exactly like saying someone \u201cthinks they\u2019re the center of the universe\u201d in English. (If you\u2019re wondering why the navel, it may be that the word in both English and French comes from the Latin umbilicus<\/em>, which could mean \u201ccenter\u201d as well as \u201cbelly button.\u201d)<\/p>\n

This use of \u201ctake\u201d appears in English expressions like \u201cwhat do you take me for<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Advanced phrases with the word affaire<\/em> (thing, business, case, contract, problem\u2026)<\/h2>\n

Avoir l\u2019affaire en main<\/em> (to have things in hand)<\/h3>\n

Ne vous inqui\u00e9tez\u00a0pas.\u00a0J\u2019<\/strong>ai l\u2019affaire en main.
\n<\/strong><\/em>(Don\u2019t worry. I have everything under control.)<\/p>\n

This translates very well in a literal sense to the expression \u201cto have something in hand\u201d in English.<\/p>\n

Se tirer d\u2019affaire<\/em> (to escape a situation)<\/h3>\n

Il a eu un grave accident de voiture, mais il s\u2019est<\/strong> tir\u00e9 d\u2019affaire<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(He had a serious car accident, but he came out safe and sound.)<\/p>\n

\u00catre dans une affaire<\/em> (to be involved in a case\/situation)<\/h3>\n

Il pr\u00e9tend qu\u2019il est innocent, mais il est dans l\u2019affaire<\/strong> jusqu\u2019au cou<\/em>.
\n(He says he\u2019s innocent, but he is fully implicated in this case.)<\/p>\n

Une mauvaise affaire<\/em> (a bad deal)<\/h3>\n

Acheter cette propri\u00e9t\u00e9 a \u00e9t\u00e9 une mauvaise affaire <\/strong>pour mon client.
\n<\/em>(Buying this property was a bad deal for my client.)<\/p>\n

Faire capoter l\u2019affaire<\/em> (to make a deal fail)<\/h3>\n

Il a fait<\/strong> capoter l\u2019affaire<\/strong> \u00e0 des fins malhonn\u00eates<\/em>.
\n(He made the deal fail for dishonest purposes.)<\/p>\n

Capoter <\/em>literally\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>means \u201cto flip\u201d or \u201cto overturn,\u201d but as you can see here, it\u2019s used in a more figurative sense as well.<\/p>\n

Advanced phrases with the word t\u00eate<\/em> (head)<\/h2>\n

Se creuser la t\u00eate<\/em> (to think hard)<\/h3>\n

Je me suis creus\u00e9 la t\u00eate<\/strong> pour<\/em>\u00a0r\u00e9soudre ce probl\u00e8me.
\n<\/em>(I thought hard in order to solve this problem.)<\/p>\n

Similar to \u201cI\u2019ve racked my brain\u201d in English. Another expression you may be interested in learning along with this one is se casser la t\u00eate <\/em>(to worry\/stress).<\/p>\n

Faire la t\u00eate<\/em> (to have a pout\/to sulk)<\/h3>\n

Je ne sais pas ce qu\u2019il a, mais il fait la t\u00eate<\/strong> depuis ce matin<\/em>.
\n(I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with him, but he\u2019s been sulking since this morning.)<\/p>\n

Perdre la t\u00eate<\/em> (to lose one\u2019s memory or one\u2019s mind)<\/h3>\n

Mon Dieu, elle a perdu la t\u00eate<\/strong><\/em>.
\n(My God, she\u2019s lost her mind.)<\/p>\n

Ni queue ni t\u00eate<\/em> (making no sense)<\/h3>\n

Cette histoire n\u2019a ni queue, ni t\u00eate.
\n<\/strong><\/em>(This story makes no sense.)<\/p>\n

This literally means \u201cneither head nor tail,\u201d which is equivalent to the English expression, of course.<\/p>\n

Garder la t\u00eate froide<\/em> (to remain calm)<\/h3>\n

Malgr\u00e9 le danger, il a<\/strong> gard\u00e9 la t\u00eate froide\u00a0<\/strong>durant cette exp\u00e9rience.
\n<\/em>(Despite the danger, he remained calm throughout this experience.)<\/p>\n

Another one that\u2019s easy to remember as English has a literal equivalent: \u201cto keep a cool head.\u201d<\/p>\n

En avoir par-dessus la t\u00eate<\/em>\u00a0(to be fed up)<\/h3>\n

J\u2019en ai par-dessus la t\u00eate<\/strong> des tes histoires<\/em>.
\n(I\u2019m fed up with your problems.)<\/p>\n

This is literally \u201cto have it above the head.\u201d It has some similarity to the English equivalent \u201cto have it up to here\u201d\u2014usually spoken with a hand raised over one\u2019s head to show how high \u201chere\u201d is.<\/p>\n

Une<\/em> t\u00eate\u00a0<\/em>br\u00fbl\u00e9e<\/i>\u00a0(a hothead)<\/h3>\n

Ces aventuriers sont des t\u00eates br\u00fbl\u00e9es.\u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/em>(Those adventurers are hotheads.)<\/p>\n

Avoir une <\/em>t\u00eate \u00e0 claques<\/em> (to be stupid or annoying)<\/h3>\n

Quelle <\/em>t\u00eate \u00e0 claques<\/em><\/strong> celle-l\u00e0 !
\n<\/em>(How annoying she is!)<\/p>\n

This is literally \u201cto have a good head for slapping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avoir la grosse t\u00eate<\/em>\u00a0(to be arrogant)<\/h3>\n

Le succ\u00e8s lui a donn\u00e9 la grosse <\/strong><\/em>t\u00eate<\/em><\/strong>.
\n(Success\u00a0made him arrogant.)<\/p>\n

Yet another with an easy English equivalent: \u201cto have a big head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advanced phrases with the word coup<\/em> (swift action)<\/h2>\n

The word coup<\/em> essentially means \u201cswift action,\u201d but its uses are highly versatile. Its nuances include \u201chit,\u201d \u201ccut,\u201d \u201cgust\u201d and more.<\/p>\n

Not only do multiple expressions in French have coup\u00a0<\/em>in them, but you probably already know this word has been adopted into English, perhaps most notably in \u201ccoup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u201d (a sudden overthrow of government), \u201ccoup de gr\u00e2ce\u201d (a quick, merciful killing blow) or simply \u201ccoup\u201d (any swift triumph).<\/p>\n

Once you have a general idea of coup<\/em> and its versatility, the following expressions aren\u2019t too tricky. In fact, you could probably figure out some of them on your own. If you\u2019ve spent any serious amount of time learning French, you\u2019ve probably managed to pick up a few coup<\/em> phrases just from context while reading books or newspapers.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for more resources to listen to how natives use coup <\/em>and other words, you can check out the Easy French<\/a>, where they interview and talk to regular French speakers about different topics. Our YouTube channel<\/a> also has a video lesson that covers even more expressions than our list below:<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

The clips in the video can also be found on our program if you’re looking for more examples of native speakers using “coup”<\/em> expressions.<\/p>\n

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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