Vocabulary
t
Informal spelling of t'es
pas
The most common adverb of negation in French, typically translating into English as not, don't, doesn't, etc.; used as an intensifier in underlying rhetorical questions, mostly with voilà
Adverb
avancer
to advance, to go forward; to progress; to bring forward, to advance; to propose, to put forward; to move towards, to go up to, to approach; to help out somebody by lending them money for a short time (for example because they don't have any cash and the store doesn't take bank cards), to tide someone over
Verb
ne pas être de refus
to be something to which one wouldn't say no, to be something that one wouldn't mind, to be most welcome
Verb
parler en l'air
to waste one's breath (to speak without being listened to); to blow smoke; to talk through one's hat (to speak about issues one doesn't understand)
Verb
la roue tourne
the Wheel of Fortune goes round and round (things don't/won't stay the same; while someone's luck runs out, someone else's hour will come); the tide is turning
Phrase
vache sacrée
taboo subject, sacred cow (something which shouldn't be broached or criticized, for fear of public outcry)
Noun
le cœur y est
the thought is there; someone's heart is in the right place; used to apologize when one wants to do something but cannot; someone's heart isn't in it
Phrase
ne pas se prendre pour de la merde
to think the sun shines out of one's arse, to think one's shit doesn't stink, to think one is the shit, to think one is hot shit (to be full of oneself, to think highly of oneself)
Verb
c'est le monde à l'envers
the world's turned upside down; it's crazy; it's illogical; it's backward; it doesn't make any sense; it's the tail wagging the dog; that's the pot calling the kettle black
Phrase
Confiturembourg
the imaginary capital of the Realm of the Dolls (le royaume des poupées) in Alexandre Dumas's translation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's Nussknacker und Mausekönig (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King)
Name
choisir c'est renoncer
to choose is to forsake; one can't have one's cake and eat it too (when you make a choice, you have to give up on something else)
Proverb
péter plus haut que son cul
to think one's shit doesn't stink; to think the sun shines out of one's arse; to think one is the shit; to think one is the business; to think one is hot shit (to be full of oneself)
Verb
parler comme un aveugle des couleurs
to talk through one's hat, to speak about an issue one doesn't understand
Adverb
liberté
liberty, freedom. 1688, Guy Miège, The Great French Dictionary. "Qu'y a-t-il de plus doux dans ce monde que la liberté? What is there sweeter in this world than liberty?"
Noun
yaourt
yoghurt; a song where the singer makes up the words as they're singing, either as dummy lyrics as part of the songwriting process, or because the singer doesn't know the real lyrics of an existing song; used primarily with a verb: chanter en yaourt
Noun
perche
perch (type of fish); pole; pole-vaulting; pole; T-bar; boom (for microphone etc.); perch (for birds); rod (unit of length); probe
Noun
débardeur
docker, longshoreman; haulier (of logs etc); traditional character of the Paris Carnival; sleeveless T-shirt, tank top
Noun
entreprenant
enterprising; forward, bold, daring; handsy (who doesn't hesitate in making sexual advances)
Adjective
VITE
FAST, FASTER: acronym of visage, incapacité, trouble de la parole, extrême urgence (face, incapacity, speech problems, extreme emergency): A mnemonic for diagnosing a cerebrovascular accident (“CVA”) or stroke; the mnemonic V-I-T-E also was coined in recognition of the word vite (“quickly”), as a need for speedy diagnosis and treatment
Phrase
trouver
to find; to retrieve something lost, turn up something hidden, or encounter something previously unknown to one; to find (something to be the case); to think or consider (something to be so); to find oneself (at a place or in a situation); to be found, to be situated, to be; to be the case, to turn out (that)
Verb
toi
you (informal second-person singular personal pronoun, disjunctive); yourself (reflexive object pronoun of imperative verbs)
Pronoun
tenir
to have; to hold; to keep; to stay; to hold; to hold on; to hold oneself, to be standing; to maintain, remain in a certain position or disposition; to behave; to be attached (to), to be fond (of), to hold dear; to hold dear, to be keen (about), to insist (upon); to consider (something); …
Verb