C2Unit 2 of the C2 course · « Humour et jeux de mots »
French humour runs on idioms, puns and saying less than you mean. This page explains the expressions that make no literal sense, and how irony and litote work.
By the end of this unit you can: understand irony, puns and cultural references.
Idioms are frozen pictures: you can't change their words or translate them literally. Nobody in France is literally standing up a rabbit. At C2 the challenge is twofold: catching them at full speed, and knowing their register. Most of these are familiar: perfect with friends, risky in a cover letter.
Because French has so many silent letters, many words share one sound. That makes puns everywhere: in newspaper headlines, adverts, shop names (a hairdresser called Hair du temps, from l'air du temps) and children's jokes. To get them, say the phrase out loud and listen for the second meaning.
Le comble asks for « the worst thing that could happen to » someone, and the answer is always a pun on their job. Monsieur et Madame jokes give a family a surname so that first name + surname make a phrase. Every francophone child knows dozens of both.
French conversation is full of irony: praising a disaster, thanking someone for a mess. The clues are the situation and the tone: a flat voice, a long pause, an exaggerated « bravo ». If the words and the situation clash, assume second degré. Taking it au premier degré (literally) is the classic learner's trap.
A litote denies the opposite to say something strongly, with restraint. Ce n'est pas bête means it's a smart idea; je ne suis pas mécontent means I'm very pleased. It's elegant, very French, and often missed by learners who hear only the negative.
Francophones share a library of quotations they drop into conversation without warning: lines from La Fontaine's fables, learnt by heart at school from Lyon to Lomé; Astérix, read by every generation since 1959; and TV and film comedy. Recognising them is what makes a joke land, or a newspaper headline make sense.
Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) borrowed animal fables from Aesop and others and turned them into sharp verse about power and human nature. His morals are now proverbs. Journalists twist them in headlines, and people quote them, often ironically, about politics, bosses and neighbours.
Every francophone country has its own comedy scene and in-jokes: Montréal's Juste pour rire festival, Le Parlement du rire with comedians from Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon and beyond, the Belgian taste for self-mockery, and French TV series like Kaamelott whose lines became catchphrases. Neighbours love to tease each other's accents; the jokes go both ways.
Sofia, whose family is from Martinique, is visiting her friend Aya in Abidjan. They go to a stand-up night at a cultural centre in Cocody. The comedian, Konan, plays with idioms, irony and puns. Can Sofia keep up?
Tap 🔊 to hear each one, recorded by a native-sounding French voice.
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| avoir le cafard | to feel down, have the bluesUn cafard is a cockroach: picture a dark little thought crawling into your head. | |
| poser un lapin à quelqu'unIl m'a posé un lapin samedi soir. (He stood me up on Saturday night.) | to stand someone up | |
| coûter les yeux de la tête | to cost an arm and a legSame idea, different body parts. Familiar synonym: coûter la peau des fesses. | |
| tomber dans les pommes | to faint, pass outFamiliar. Neutral: s'évanouir. | |
| avoir un poil dans la main | to be bone idleThe picture: a hand that never works has time to grow a hair in its palm. | |
| raconter des salades | to tell tall stories, spin a yarnMild and familiar: it suggests fibs and excuses, not serious lies. | |
| mettre son grain de sel | to put one's two cents inUsually a little critical: butting in when nobody asked. | |
| quand les poules auront des dents | when pigs flyNote the future tense: auront. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| jeu de mots(masculine) | play on words, punPlural: des jeux de mots. | |
| calembour(masculine) | pun (based on sound)A calembour plays on words that sound alike. French, full of homophones, is a playground for them. | |
| homophone(masculine) | homophoneWords that sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning. | |
| vers, verre, vert, ver | towards, glass, green, wormAll pronounced the same. Add vair, an old word for squirrel fur: some, like Balzac, claimed Cinderella's slipper was vair, not verre. | |
| sans, cent, sang, sent | without, a hundred, blood, smellsFour spellings, one sound. | |
| mer, mère, maire | sea, mother, mayorOnly context, or the article, gives the meaning away. | |
| contrepèterie(feminine) | spoonerismSwap two sounds in a phrase to reveal a hidden, often cheeky, second phrase. The weekly Le Canard enchaîné has run a column of them for decades. | |
| comble(masculine) | the height of…; the « what's the worst thing for a… » jokeC'est le comble ! = That's the last straw! Also a classic joke format for children and adults alike. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| au second degré | tongue-in-cheek, not to be taken literallyPrendre quelque chose au premier degré = to take it literally. Avoir de l'humour au second degré is a much-praised quality. | |
| pince-sans-rire | deadpan, dry (humour or person)Doesn't change in the plural: des humoristes pince-sans-rire. | |
| c'est malin ! | well, that was clever! (ironic)Said after someone does something silly. The meaning is the opposite of the words. | |
| il ne manquait plus que ça ! | that's all we needed!In speech: manquait plus qu'ça ! | |
| autodérision(feminine) | self-mockeryPratiquer l'autodérision = to laugh at oneself. | |
| chambrer quelqu'un | to tease someone, rib someoneFamiliar. In Québec you'll hear niaiser quelqu'un. | |
| ben voyons ! | yeah, right! (sarcastic)Shows you don't believe a word of it. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| Ils sont fous, ces Romains ! | These Romans are crazy!Obélix's catchphrase in Astérix. Swap in any group to gently mock their habits: ils sont fous, ces Parisiens ! | |
| être tombé dedans quand on était petitLe jazz ? Elle est tombée dedans quand elle était petite. (Jazz? She's been into it since she was tiny.) | to have been into something since childhoodFrom Astérix: Obélix fell into the magic potion as a baby, so he's strong for ever. | |
| la raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure | might is rightThe first line of La Fontaine's fable Le Loup et l'Agneau (1668). Usually quoted with bitter irony. | |
| rien ne sert de courir, il faut partir à point | slow and steady wins the raceThe opening of La Fontaine's Le Lièvre et la Tortue. Literally: running is no use, you must set off in time. | |
| tout flatteur vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute | every flatterer lives at the expense of whoever listensThe moral of Le Corbeau et le Renard, learnt by heart in schools across the francophone world. | |
| c'est pas faux | that's not wrong (I have no idea what you mean)From the TV series Kaamelott: Perceval says it whenever he doesn't understand a word. Quoted jokingly to admit you're lost. | |
| sketch(masculine) | comedy sketchPlural: des sketchs (or sketches). | |
| comique de répétition(masculine) | running gagA joke that gets funnier each time it comes back. |
This unit is part of French Ultimate's C2 course: 5 short lessons with an animated video each, speaking and listening practice, a reading and an end-of-unit test.
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