Avoir la flemme and 6 idioms no textbook taught you
The can’t-be-bothered feeling has a French name. Here’s how (and when) to use it.
Textbooks teach you to order a coffee and ask for the train station. Then you arrive in France and hear people say they have “the laziness”, “the cockroach” or that someone “put a rabbit” on them. Here are seven everyday idioms that will make you sound much more French, and much less like a phrasebook.
1. Avoir la flemme
Meaning: to not be able to be bothered.
J’ai la flemme de cuisiner ce soir. — I can’t be bothered to cook tonight.
Probably the most useful idiom on this list. Someone who often has la flemme is a flemmard or a flemmarde. It’s informal: perfect with friends, less perfect in a job interview.
2. Avoir le cafard
Meaning: to feel down, a bit blue. Literally, “to have the cockroach”.
J’ai un peu le cafard depuis la fin des vacances. — I’ve been feeling a bit down since the holidays ended.
3. Poser un lapin à quelqu’un
Meaning: to stand someone up. Literally, “to put a rabbit on someone”.
Il devait venir à 20 h, il m’a posé un lapin. — He was supposed to come at 8, he stood me up.
4. Coûter les yeux de la tête
Meaning: to cost a fortune. The English pay with an arm and a leg; the French pay with their eyes.
Un café à Saint-Tropez, ça coûte les yeux de la tête. — A coffee in Saint-Tropez costs an arm and a leg.
5. Tomber dans les pommes
Meaning: to faint. Literally, “to fall into the apples”.
Il faisait tellement chaud dans le métro qu’une dame est tombée dans les pommes. — It was so hot in the metro that a lady fainted.
6. Avoir un coup de foudre
Meaning: to fall in love at first sight. Literally, “a strike of lightning”. It works for people, but also for places and things.
J’ai eu un coup de foudre pour Lyon. — I fell in love with Lyon at first sight.
7. Raconter des salades
Meaning: to tell tall tales, to make things up.
Arrête de me raconter des salades, je sais que tu étais au bar. — Stop making things up, I know you were at the bar.
How to start using them
Don’t try all seven tomorrow. Pick one, ideally avoir la flemme, and use it the next time it’s true. Which, let’s be honest, should be quite soon.