{"id":19,"date":"2008-10-15T10:55:06","date_gmt":"2008-10-15T14:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=19"},"modified":"2008-10-15T10:55:06","modified_gmt":"2008-10-15T14:55:06","slug":"street-french-i-animal-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/street-french-i-animal-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Street French I – Animal Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you want to become fluent in French, you must learn all types of vocabulary including the kind that is not necessarily found in most textbooks, but which you will find on the street as you talk to French-speaking people.\u00a0 <\/span>Today, we’ll talk about some popular French terms including slang, idioms, colloquialisms, etc. that are animal-related, but not necessarily in meaning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, just like in English you can say that a man is an animal. \u00a0<\/span>Il est un animal<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Une b\u00eate<\/span><\/em> <\/span>is literally an animal or a beast.\u00a0 <\/span>But, it is often used in some form in colloquial French.\u00a0 <\/span>For example, as an adjective it means \u2018foolish\u2019 or \u201cstupid\u201d as in <\/span>Elle est vraiment b\u00eate<\/span><\/em> <\/span><\/em>(She is really foolish).
\nNe fait pas de b\u00eatises!<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t do stupid things!\u201d
\n(ne pas \u00eatre) aussi b\u00eate qu\u2019on en a l\u2019air<\/span><\/em> <\/span><\/em>\u00e8<\/span><\/span> not to be as dumb as one looks
\nElles ne sont pas aussi b\u00eates qu\u2019elles en a l\u2019air <\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>“<\/span>They aren’t as dumb as they look”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, moving onto specific animals\u2026
\nLet\u2019s start with \u2018duck\u2019 or canard<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Colloquially, un canard<\/em><\/strong> can mean a hoax.\u00a0 <\/span>For example <\/span>\u2018un canard publicitaire\u2019 <\/span><\/em>means a publicity stunt.
\nFaire un froid de canard<\/span><\/em> <\/span>means\u00a0<\/span>it is very cold.
\nIl fait un froid de canard. <\/span><\/em>“It’s very cold.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, temps de chien<\/strong> <\/em>means \u201cbad weather\u201d
\nIl fait un temps de chien<\/span><\/em> \u00a0<\/span><\/span>“The weather is really bad.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then, there are the expressions with \u2018pig\u2019 or cochon<\/em>.
\nUn cochon<\/span><\/em><\/strong> can mean a pig in the same colloquial sense as it is used in English as in somebody who is very messy or says nasty things is un cochon.
\nFaire un temps de cochon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0means<\/span>\u00a0the weather is really crappy
\nIl fait un temps de cochon.<\/span><\/em> <\/span>\u201cThe weather is really crappy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are other expressions with \u2018horse’ or cheval<\/em>.
\n(\u00ea<\/em>tre \u00e0) cheval sur quelque chose<\/em> means<\/span>\u00a0to be a stickler for something
\nJe suis \u00e0 cheval sur l’ordre.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>“I\u2019m a stickler for cleanliness.\u201d
\n(avoir une) fi\u00e8vre de cheval<\/em>\u00a0means<\/span>\u00a0to have a high fever
\nMa petite fille a une fi\u00e8vre de cheval.<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cMy little girl has a very high fever.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A \u201cgoat\u201d or une ch\u00e8vre<\/em><\/strong> can mean an ugly woman or girl.
\nA \u201cbird\u201d or un oiseau<\/em><\/strong> can mean \u201ca guy\u201d.
\nA \u201chen\u201d or une poule<\/em><\/strong> can mean \u2018darling\u201d as in ma petite poule <\/em>or \u201cmy little sweetheart\u201d.
\nA \u201cmouse\u201d or une souris<\/em><\/strong> can mean “a woman\u201d or \u201ca girl\u201d.
\nA \u201czebra\u201d or un z\u00e8bre<\/em><\/strong> can mean a \u201cguy\u201d or a weirdo\u201d as in un dr\u00f4le de z\u00e8bre<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s the monkey or singe<\/em><\/strong>.
\nOn n\u2019apprend pas \u00e0 un vieux singe \u00e0 faire la grimace<\/span><\/em> <\/span>is the same as the American expression “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s the expression with sheep or des moutons <\/em><\/strong>– <\/span>Revenons \u00e0 nos moutons<\/span><\/em> <\/span>\u201cLet\u2019s get back to what we were talking about.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, there\u2019s the cow or vache<\/em><\/strong>.
\nLa vache!<\/span><\/em> means \u201cWow!\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>much like we say in English “Holy cow!”
\nVache<\/span><\/em> when used as an adjective can mean “nasty” or “mean”.\u00a0 <\/span>For example, <\/span>Ma copine a \u00e9t\u00e9 vache envers moi<\/span><\/em> meaning “My girlfriend was mean to me.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Connaissez-vous d’autres expressions\u00a0?\u00a0 <\/span>Partagez-les\u00a0dans un commentaire!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to become fluent in French, you must learn all types of vocabulary including the kind that is not necessarily found in most textbooks, but which you will find on the street as you talk to French-speaking people.\u00a0 Today, we’ll talk about some popular French terms including slang, idioms, colloquialisms, etc. that are…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[193,412,432,577],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-animal-phrases","tag-french-slang","tag-french-vocabulary","tag-street-french"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}