Sometimes, when you are speaking French and that it’s not your first language, you do end up trying to translate English expressions into French.
And you know that translating them literally is not the way to go.
So, today we are going to translate another 5 English expressions into French.
Watch the first episode here.
You crack me up 🤣
The first expression is – you crack me up.
It means ‘you are making me laugh’, and for that in French, we would use simply the verb ‘rire’ (to laugh).
But, I’m going to add a little twist, and I’m going to add a little word that makes it a bit more like ‘crack me up’.
Tu me fais trop rire.
Literally it means ‘you are making me laugh too much’. But you know that, in French, ‘trop’ which literally means ‘too much’, also means ‘very much’.
An alternative to that would be to use a verb that is a bit more casual, and it is the verb ‘marrer’, ‘se marrer’.
Tu me fais trop marrer.
So, ‘tu me fais trop marrer’ would be used in a very casual environment, and ‘tu me fais trop rire’ would be used in a maybe less casual, more neutral situation.
You rock 🤘
The second expression that we are going to see together is this one – ‘You rock’.
It means ‘you are amazing’, ‘you rock!’
So, in French, we would use a little word that we saw together in another video, and it is the word ‘génial”.
‘T’es génial’.
Here, look at my sentence. I put ‘t’es’.
Which means ‘tu es’. I put the abbreviated version because it’s something you would say in a casual situation.
Actually, you wouldn’t necessarily see it written.
People do not say ‘tu es génial’, or very rarely, they say ‘t’es génial’.
An alternative to that would be to say ‘You are the best’
‘T’es le plus fort / la plus forte’
Lit. it means ‘you are the strongest’. But it’s not a question of strength, it’s a question of being ‘the best’.
T’es le plus fort -> man / boyT’es la plus forte -> woman / girl
He's a catch ⚾️
The third expression that we are going to see together is this one – “he’s a catch’.
To be a catch.
It means to be ‘worth marrying’. ‘You should keep him, he’s a catch’.
You should marry him.
Yeah, it sort of means that. Him or her obviously, ‘she’s a catch’.
In French, you cannot use the same visual expression, it wouldn’t make sense.
And actually, the word ‘catch’ is quite hard to translate in French.
But, we have an expression, that means the same thing, and it is :
‘être un bon parti’ or ‘être un beau parti’.
I know, your French teacher probably is annoying you with the difference between ‘bon’ and ‘beau’. But here, in this expression, it means the same thing.
‘Être un bon parti’ or ‘être un beau parti’ means ‘to be a catch’.
In a sentence, it would give something like this –
‘C’est un bon parti’.
Also, be careful, here it stays in the masculine even if you are talking about a woman.
‘Elle est un bon parti’.
To go the extra mile 🏃♀️
Forth expression – ‘to go the extra mile’.
Here there are two translations depending on the situation.
If the end result of ‘going the extra mile’ is neutral or not very good, then you can use:
‘Faire un effort’.
‘Faire un effort’ lit means ‘to make an effort’.
So, ‘go the extra mile’ –
‘Fais un effort’
But, if the end result is amazing, if the end result of ‘going the extra mile’ is great you can use:
‘Se dépasser’.
And I’m going to tell you literally what it means because it’s really a nice word – it means ‘to overtake yourself’
‘Il s’est dépassé sur ce coup là’ – ‘He really went the extra mile on this one’.
To drop by 🐇
Fifth and final expression that we are going to translate together – it’s not really an expression but I’m sure you use it all the time and it is ‘to drop by’.
It means to come for a short period of time. To drop by.
In French, you cannot use the same visual expression either.
You would have to use another expression:
‘faire un saut’, lit. ‘to do a jump’, ‘to jump’.
It means ‘hop’ I’m going in, ‘hop’ I’m going out.
But the thing is, in French, you have to be precise with this expression.
I’ll drop by – in English you can just say that, and it means ‘I will drop by the place you mentioned earlier’.
In French, you have to be more precise. So you have to say where you’re going.
And I’m going to give an example in a minute, but, if you do not want to repeat yourself, you would have to use the little ‘y’
J’y ferai un saut – I will drop by there.
I know it looks complicated but just remember the expression as a whole. Just remember this sentence if you do not want to repeat yourself and say
‘I’ll drop by’.’J’y ferai un saut’.
‘Y’ here actually means ‘there’. The place we were mentioning before.
However, if you want to be precise, same thing, it’s going to be a bit more complicated because it’s a game of prepositions.
‘I’ll drop by your place’ – Je ferai un saut CHEZ toi.
However, if you want to go to the pharmacy (so a specific place), for example.
‘Je ferai un saut à la pharmacie’ – I’ll drop by the pharmacy.
I know, it’s complicated and I’m not going to explain to you why here (maybe in another video), just remember the sentence as a whole.
Please watch the video to learn how to pronounce everything correctly 😉
1 thought on “5 English expressions into French 🇫🇷 He’s a catch, to drop by,…”
Enjoyed the lesson! Thanks you!