French Idioms You're Translating Literally (and What to Say Instead)
You speak English well enough to make jokes now, and that is exactly where the trap is waiting. French idioms feel so natural inside your head that you translate them word for word, and out comes something that makes an English speaker tilt their head like a confused dog. Telling a colleague you have 'other cats to whip' is not a typo, it is a perfect calque of a real French sentence that means nothing in London. The good news: these errors are predictable. Every one comes from a specific French expression, so once you spot the pattern you can defuse all of them at once. Below are the idioms my French students drop most often, the literal version that escapes their mouth, the English that actually works, and the reason French pushed you there in the first place. Read it once and you will start hearing yourself before you say 'it rains ropes' in a meeting.
✗ I have other cats to whip.
✓ I have bigger fish to fry.
Why Direct calque of the French 'j'ai d'autres chats à fouetter'. The image of whipping cats is pure French; English never built this idiom, so listeners only hear animal cruelty.
When you mean 'I have more important things to deal with', reach for 'bigger fish to fry'. Keep the French cats in French.
✗ I give my tongue to the cat.
✓ I give up. Tell me the answer.
Why From 'donner sa langue au chat', which French uses to admit you cannot guess a riddle. English has no cat here at all, so the sentence sounds disturbing rather than playful.
To surrender a guess, say 'I give up' or 'I have no idea, just tell me'. There is no idiomatic cat version in English.
✗ He put me a rabbit yesterday.
✓ He stood me up yesterday.
Why Straight from 'poser un lapin à quelqu'un', meaning to fail to show up for a date. The French verb 'poser' plus 'lapin' translates to nonsense in English, where no rabbit is involved.
Use the phrasal verb 'to stand someone up'. 'She stood me up' = she never came. No animals required.
✗ It rains ropes outside.
✓ It's bucketing down. / It's pouring.
Why A calque of 'il pleut des cordes'. French sees heavy rain as ropes; English does not, so 'ropes' just confuses. The older 'raining cats and dogs' exists but sounds dated.
For heavy rain say 'it's pouring', 'it's bucketing down', or 'it's chucking it down' in casual British English.
✗ I'll do it when hens have teeth.
✓ I'll do it when pigs fly.
Why From 'quand les poules auront des dents'. French picks toothless hens for 'never'; English picks flying pigs. Same idea, completely different animal, so the calque misses.
For something that will never happen, say 'when pigs fly' or simply 'that's never going to happen'.
✗ I have the peach today.
✓ I'm feeling great today. / I'm on top form.
Why From 'avoir la pêche', French slang for feeling energetic and upbeat. In English 'having the peach' means nothing, and 'peachy' is a different, slightly sarcastic register.
Say 'I'm full of energy', 'I'm on top form', or casually 'I'm feeling great'. Drop the fruit.
✗ We are not out of the inn.
✓ We're not out of the woods yet.
Why Calque of 'on n'est pas sorti de l'auberge', meaning the trouble is far from over. French uses an inn, English uses a forest, so 'inn' leaves your listener lost.
Use 'we're not out of the woods yet' when the difficulty is ongoing.
✗ It costs the skin of the buttocks.
✓ It costs an arm and a leg.
Why From the French 'ça coûte la peau des fesses' for something very expensive. The French body part does not survive translation, and the English idiom uses arms and legs instead.
For 'very expensive', say 'it costs an arm and a leg' or 'it costs a fortune'.
Common questions
Why can't I just translate French idioms word for word?
Because idioms are frozen, culture-specific images. French built 'd'autres chats à fouetter' over centuries; English built 'bigger fish to fry' separately. The words line up but the meaning does not transfer, so you get nonsense.
Does English have an equivalent for 'donner sa langue au chat'?
No clean idiom, no. The plain phrase is 'I give up' or 'I have no idea'. There is no cat, no tongue. Trying to keep the image only confuses English speakers.
Is 'it's raining cats and dogs' still good English for 'il pleut des cordes'?
It is understood but sounds old-fashioned and a bit textbook. Natural speakers say 'it's pouring' or 'it's bucketing down'. Save 'cats and dogs' for the cartoon.
How do I learn which idiom matches which French one?
Look up the meaning, not the words. Search the English meaning ('to fail to show up for a date') in a learner dictionary and note the idiom it returns. Build a small two-column list, French meaning on one side, real English on the other.
Sources
- English Idioms, Cambridge Dictionary.
- Learner English (Swan & Smith), French chapter, Cambridge University Press.
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