How do you say “to fall in love” in French? While the classic expression tomber amoureux perfectly captures romantic feelings, the French language offers a rich variety of charming, nuanced, and colorful alternatives that fit both romantic and non-romantic settings. Let’s explore some of these expressions.

As we mentioned, tomber amoureux (to fall in love) typically conveys strong feelings for a person or thing:

Une chanson qui parle des sentiments adolescents et de la solitude qu'on peut ressentir quand on voit des gens tomber amoureux et que nous, on a envie de ressentir de l'amour.

A song that talks about teenage feelings and about the loneliness that we can feel when we see people falling in love and that we want to feel love.

Captions 79-82, Français avec Nelly 12 Songs to Improve Your French - Part 1

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To evoke the sudden, overwhelming feeling of “falling madly in love," the French have a very colorful expression that literally means “to be struck by lightning": avoir un coup de foudre. Back in the 17th century, the expression described just that, an unpleasant electrifying experience! Over time though, it lost its sting and took on the more romantic meaning we know today:

J'ai un coup de foudre pour toi.

I'm madly in love with you.

Caption 77, Français avec Nelly How to flirt in French

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When combined with être (to be) instead of avoir (to have), as in ça a été le coup de foudre, the meaning changes slightly and is best rendered as “it was love at first sight." The focus is now on the event or the catalyst rather than the person experiencing these feelings. Just as in English, un coup de foudre (love at first sight) can happen not only with people but also with everyday things, such as delicious cherries:

Dès la première fois que j'ai goûté une cerise ça a été le coup de foudre.

From the first time I tasted a cherry, it was love at first sight.

Captions 70-71, Le saviez-vous? Comment dire qu'on aime?

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The expression un coup de cœur, literally “a blow/strike to the heart,” works in a similar grammatical way to un coup de foudre (love at first sight) with avoir (to have) or être (to be). Avoir un coup de cœur means to fall in love or to be smitten, emphasizing the initial feeling of attraction toward another person:

J'ai un coup de cœur pour toi.

I'm smitten with you.

Caption 74, Français avec Nelly How to flirt in French

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The expression can also be used in a non-romantic way, such as avoir un coup de cœur pour une peinture (to fall in love with a painting): 

Et j'ai vraiment eu un coup de cœur pour cette peinture.

And I really fell in love with this painting.

Caption 49, Le saviez-vous? Karine Rougier présente son art - Part 3

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Speaking of painting, a speaker in another video describes how she fell in love with a particular painting, how it became “her favorite” and how she developed a little “infatuation”:

C'est vraiment mon coup de cœur, hein. Ben y en a... beaucoup des jolis, mais celui-là vraiment, à chaque fois que je rentre dans ton atelier, j'ai un petit coup de cœur. 

It's really my favorite, you know. Well, there's... many nice ones, but that one, really, every time I enter your studio, I have a little infatuation. 

Captions 13-15, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 8

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As you can see, un coup de cœur can translate in a variety of ways depending on whether it is used with avoir or être and on the nature of the feeling being conveyed. In this example, un coup de cœur is more of an "affinity” than “love”:

Avec François, on a repris la librairie y aura bientôt deux ans, une librairie pour laquelle on a eu un véritable coup de cœur.

With François, it's coming on two years ago that we took over the bookstore, a bookstore for which we had a veritable strike of the heart [affinity].

Captions 6-8, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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Moving on to a different charming expression, we have tomber sous le charme (to fall under the spell of something, or simply fall in love), which best describes an irresistible attraction:

Visiblement, ma mère...était tombée sous le charme du vendeur.

Obviously, my mother...had fallen under the spell of the salesman.

Captions 56-58, Mère & Fille Mère ou sœur

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Alternatively, you could say succomber au charme (to succumb to the charm):

Visiblement, ma mère...avait succombé au charme du vendeur.

Obviously, my mother...had succumbed to the charm of the salesman.

A less overt way of admitting one’s feeling of attraction is with the expression avoir un faible (to have a weakness, a soft spot, or a crush):

Olivier a toujours eu un petit faible pour Fabrice.

Olivier has always had a little weakness for Fabrice.

Caption 66, Le Jour où tout a basculé Ma collègue veut ma place - Part 1

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Or you may want to use the colloquial phrase craquer sur when “falling for” or “giving in to" the temptation of impulse buying, like this person at a Christmas market in Alsace:

Et ben on a craqué sur des choses un petit peu typiques, euh...

And, well, we fell for things that are a little bit typical, uh...

Caption 10, Alsace 20 Ouverture du marché de Noël de Colmar

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There you have it! We hope you enjoyed this foray into feelings, and that it will help you navigate the world of love.

You may be familiar with the common money-related verbs gagner (to earn) and dépenser (to spend). While straightforward in a financial context, these French verbs take on meanings that may surprise you when used in non-monetary settings.

Let’s start with the verb gagner, as in gagner de l’argent (to earn money). In the following video, Barbara is desperate to gagner un peu d’argent:

Il fallait absolument que je trouve un moyen de gagner un peu d'argent.

I absolutely had to find a way to earn a little money.

Caption 18, Mère & Fille Crazy Sitting

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We could say that Barbara is ready to start gagner sa vie (earning a living):

Barbara a hâte de pouvoir gagner sa vie comme sa maman.

Barbara can’t wait to earn a living like her mother.

Or Barbara could buy a lottery ticket instead, in hopes of gagner au loto (winning the lottery). That's exactly what happens to Sacha in this video:

Sacha a gagné au loto !

Sacha won the lottery!

Caption 7, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 5

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Here is something else you can gagner (win) in French: time! The phrase gagner du temps literally means "to win time," or “to gain time." ("To gain" is actually a cognate of gagner!) See how this cider manufacturer gagne du temps (gains time):

Donc, pour gagner un petit peu de temps, les pommes ont donc été préparées, nettoyées et coupées en morceaux.

So, to gain a little bit of time, the apples have therefore been prepared, cleaned and cut into chunks.

Captions 4-6, Frédéric La fabrication du jus de pomme - Part 1

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Gagner du temps also translates as “to save time,” depending on your perspective:

Je n'ai pas besoin de prendre les transports, donc je gagne beaucoup de temps sur ma journée.

I don't need to take public transportation, so I save a lot of time for my day.

Captions 55-56, Français avec Nelly Ma vie à Paris - Part 1

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As for “spending time," there are two ways of doing this in French: dépenser son temps (to use/spend one's time) or passer son temps (to pass one's time). The phrase dépenser son temps is not very common and is often used in a negative context. In the example below, time, like money, is considered a precious commodity that should not be wasted:

Ce n’est pas la peine de dépenser tout son temps à jouer aux jeux vidéos. 

It’s not worth spending all your time playing video games.

On the flip side, dépenser can also carry positive connotations, particularly regarding religious dedication:

L'homme doit dépenser tout son temps au service de Dieu.

Man must spend all his time serving God.

In most cases, however, French speakers use the phrase passer son temps to describe how they spend their time:

C'est un métier où on passe notre temps à ranger d'un côté sur l'autre,

It's a job where we spend our time putting things in place from one side to the other,

Captions 9-10, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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On the other hand, do use the verb dépenser (to spend) in a financial context. For example, in this video, dépenser de l’argent (spending money) is a fun activity for Barbara—until she realizes she has none left:

Si t'as dépensé ton argent, c'est ton problème.

If you spent your money, that's your problem.

Captions 33-34, Mère & Fille L'argent de poche

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Among other things, Barbara needs to watch her dépenses téléphoniques (phone expenses):

Pour maîtriser mes dépenses téléphoniques, ma mère avait opté pour un forfait commun.

To keep my phone expenses under control, my mother had opted for a family plan.

Captions 22-23, Mère & Fille Le coup de téléphone

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In French, it’s not just money that you can dépenser (spend). It’s also possible to se dépenser: literally “to expend energy on oneself,” or in other words, “to exercise” or “work out":

Et si vous alliez vous dépenser avec Maxime?

What if you went for a workout with Maxime?

Caption 60, Le Jour où tout a basculé Des hôtes pas comme les autres - Part 3

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In addition, se dépenser (exercising) is an opportunity to dépenser des calories (burn calories):

C'est mieux de... de faire ça, même si c'est calorique, c'est ci, c'est là... Non mais... -Tu les dépenses après.

It's better to... to do that, even if it's calorific, it's this, it's that... No but... -You use them up [burn them] afterward.

Captions 60-62, Sophie et Patrice Le petit-déjeuner

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Now that we’ve explored ways to gagner (earn, win) and dépenser (spend), how about discussing ways to “save” in a future lesson? Merci d’avoir passer du temps à lire cette leçon ! 

The French language has a wide range of fun and colorful expressions toutes faites (set expressions) involving parts of the body. Some of these coincide with English ones, but most of the time, it's necessary to find equivalents. Let's look at a few of these expressions in this lesson.

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But first, Manon and Clémentine will explain what expressions toutes faites are:

Expressions toutes faites. Qu'est-ce que c'est ? Ce sont des phrases ou des locutions qui ont une tournure assez imagée et qui sont souvent très difficiles à traduire.

Set expressions. What is that? These are sentences or phrases that have a rather colorful phrasing and that are often very difficult to translate.

Captions 2-4, Manon et Clémentine Expressions toutes faites

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Manon and Clémentine then give us a variety of examples, some of which involve parts of the body like l’œil (the eye). Be careful not to take this one literally: to have un compas dans l’œil (a compass in one’s eye) is not as painful as it sounds. Metaphorically speaking, it means having a knack for assessing measurements accurately just by looking:

Manon a le compas dans l'œil...

Manon has the compass in her eye [can measure things by sight]...

Caption 10, Manon et Clémentine Expressions toutes faites

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Or you could gauge distance with your nose, à vue de nez (literally, "by sight of nose")! That’s how Clémentine goes on to describe Manon’s guessing abilities:

Elle le fait à vue de nez.

She does it by sight of nose [roughly, at a glance].

Caption 14, Manon et Clémentine Expressions toutes faites

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However, Manon does not think Clémentine’s statement is much of a compliment, as the expression implies measuring somewhat inaccurately. So, Manon tells Clémentine she is mistaken, using the expression se mettre le doigt dans l’œil (literally, "to put one's finger in one's eye"):

Mais moi je pense que tu te mets le doigt dans l'œil quand tu dis « à vue de nez ».

but me, I think that you're putting your finger in your eye [entirely mistaken] when you say "by sight of nose."

Caption 17, Manon et Clémentine Expressions toutes faites

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Being good friends, they are not going to argue about finer points like that and prefer to avoid couper les cheveux en quatre (literally "splitting hairs in four"):

Bon, ne commence pas à couper les cheveux en quatre !

OK, don't start splitting hairs!

Caption 19, Manon et Clémentine Expressions toutes faites

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Speaking of things to avoid, it’s best not to mettre les pieds dans le plat (to put one's feet in the dish). This is roughly equivalent to "to put one's foot in one's mouth," or to speak too bluntly. Barbara decides to risk doing this by telling her mother that she's a bad cook:

Il était grand temps que je mette les pieds dans le plat.

It was high time that I put my feet in the dish [put my foot in my mouth, risk offending her].

Caption 7, Mère & Fille Cuisine Monster

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There is another expression using pied (foot). If you wake up in a bad mood, or get up on the wrong side of the bed, this is what you can say in French:

Et « se lever du pied gauche » ? -C'est être mécontent, de mauvaise humeur.

And "to get up on one's left foot"? -That's to be unhappy, in a bad mood.

Caption 45, Manon et Clémentine Expressions toutes faites

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A person in a bad mood is likely to be a pain in the neck, or un casse-pieds ("feet breaker"):

Mais tu es casse-pieds aujourd’hui !

But you’re a pain in the neck today!

A similar expression is un casse-tête ("head breaker"). When something is so difficult (like, say, French grammar) that it gives you a headache, you can call it un casse-tête. In this video, we learn that the production of too many books can be un casse-tête (a headache) for a bookstore:

Une production très importante en France de livres qui est plutôt une bonne chose, mais qui est parfois un casse-tête...

A very significant production of books in France, which is rather a good thing, but which is sometimes a headache...

Captions 19-21, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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Un casse-tête is also the word for a puzzle or brain-teaser:

J'aime faire des mots croisés et d'autres casse-tête.

I like doing crossword puzzles and other brain-teasers. 

Exploring French expressions should hopefully be neither un casse-pieds (a pain) nor un casse-tête (a headache)! You can learn some more expressions toutes faites (set expressions) in the rest of Manon and Clémentine’s lesson and remember that our Yabla videos are a great source of interesting expressions as well. Thank you for reading!

This lesson is brought to you by the letter x, an exaspérante (exasperating) letter that can morph into several different sounds. How do you extract a meaningful rule out of this unruly letter? Are you ready to explorer (explore) this exciting letter x? Fear not, the French pronunciation of the letter x is similar to English, at least at first glance. However, there are some notable differences that we will explore.

You may have noticed that some of the cognates mentioned in the previous paragraph share the same x sound in French and in English. Here is an example using the word explorer (to explore):

Il faut les explorer, les décrire, en faire une carte et en découvrir d'autres.

We have to explore them, describe them, map them, and discover some more.

Caption 12, Il était une fois: les Explorateurs 10. Amerigo Vespucci - Part 3

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Here is another example, with exacte (exact):

Du coup, c'est très compliqué d'avoir la date exacte.

As a result, it's very complicated to get the exact date.

Caption 37, Lionel Le musée de Jeanne d'Arc - Part 2

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In a few instances, an x at the end of a French word will render the same x sound as in English. The video below refers to l’Académie des Lynx, named after the wild animal le lynx (lynx), renowned for its sharp eyesight: 

Le prince Federico Cesi, fondateur de l'Académie des Lynx

Prince Federico Cesi, the founder of the Academy of the Lynxes

Caption 33, Il était une fois: Les découvreurs 9. Galilée - Part 7

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Likewise, words ending in -ex are usually pronounced as in English:

C'est-à-dire, vous faites un barré avec votre index

That is, you do a barre with your index finger

Caption 10, Leçons de guitare Leçon 3

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But words ending in -ex or -nx are not that common in French and tend to be of foreign origin. Instead, typical x endings come in the following combinations: -oux, -aux, -eaux, and -eux, which all call for a silent x. (We’ll explore exceptions further on.)

In the video below, the speaker, a British server, has never heard of a silent x… She tries to entice Sam and the gang with some “gâtox," which has everyone flummoxed. Fortunately, Sam saves the day and explains that she meant to say gâteaux (cakes), with a silent x. Listen carefully to learn how NOT to say gâteaux:

"Gâtox"... Je crois qu'elle veut dire "gâteaux".

"Gâtox"... I think she means "cakes."

Caption 45, Extr@ Ep. 11 - Les vacances - Part 6

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Here is an example with the correct pronunciation of nouveaux ("new," plural):

Les nouveaux livres qu'on a reçus.

The new books that we've received.

Caption 14, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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Since the x is silent, gâteaux and nouveaux are pronounced the same as singular gâteau (cake) and nouveau (new). But listen carefully to this sentence with the same word, nouveaux (new). Why does the x now sound like a z?

Afin de développer de nouveaux outils de pilotage...

In order to develop new steering tools...

Caption 10, Canal 32 Le futur de l’éolien se joue dans l'Aube

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This is not a mistake. The speaker formed what we call in French une liaison by joining two words together—the first one ending with a consonant, nouveaux, and the following one starting with a vowel, outils (tools)—rendering a z sound: nouveaux-Z-outils. (Notice how the speaker runs the two words together without pausing to make them sound like one word.) You will find more information on liaisons in the lesson Liaisons, Numerous and Dangerous.

So, look out for nouns (sometimes adjectives) starting with a vowel. It is a signal that you should sound the x like a z! Here's another example:

Les vieux époux ont décidé de mener leur vie

The old couple decided to lead their lives

Caption 4, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mes grands-parents sont infidèles - Part 9

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And here's one with a very short word, the determiner aux ("to the," plural):

Nemours a un passé particulièrement intéressant et très intimement lié aux États-Unis pour deux raisons.

Nemours has a past that is particularly interesting and very closely linked to the United States for two reasons.

Captions 5-6, Voyage en France Nemours - Part 2

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So we have: les vieux-Z-époux and aux-Z-États-Unis. 

In short, when a word ends in x, the x is usually silent unless there is a liaison. If you are still unsure, don’t worry. Many liaisons are optional, and French people don’t apply the liaison rule to the letter, so to speak. Just remember, though, that in some situations, liaisons are de rigueur. The examples given above are very common and always call for a "liaiZon."

On the flip side, when a French word begins with x, it does not sound like a z, as it would in English. Instead, it's pronounced more like the x in exemple (example):

D'un symbole d'unité française, ce drapeau a été utilisé parfois comme symbole de xénophobie.

Once a symbol of French unity, this flag has sometimes been used as a xenophobic symbol.

Caption 41, Le saviez-vous? Histoire du drapeau français

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Stay tuned for another X-rated lesson on the numbers deux, dix, et six (two, ten, and six) and find out what is special about them. Thank you for reading!

You may know that all French nouns are either masculine or feminine, but did you know that some nouns can be both? A word like après-midi (afternoon), for example, can be either masculine or feminine depending on the speaker's preference:

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Vous deux, là, qu'est-ce que vous allez faire de beau cet après-midi?

You two, here, what are you going to do that's exciting this afternoon?

Caption 57, Actus Quartier - Fête de quartier Python-Duvernois - Part 1

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On passe une super après-midi.

You spend a great afternoon.

Caption 90, LCM - Rétine argentique, le paradis des photographes

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Un après-midi (masculine) and une après-midi (feminine) both mean "an afternoon." But usually, when a word's gender changes, its meaning changes too. Take the word mode, for example. La mode (feminine) means "fashion," but le mode (masculine) means "mode" or "(grammatical) mood":

Le milieu de la mode est aussi touché hein, forcément.

The world of fashion is also affected, you know, necessarily.

Caption 36, Cap 24 Paris - Alessandro fait les Puces! - Part 1

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Le temps présent fait partie du mode indicatif.

The present tense is part of the indicative mood.

Caption 10, Le saviez-vous? - Le mode indicatif, c'est quoi?

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Like mode, a lot of dual-gender words end in -e. Another common one is poste. When masculine, it means "post" as in "position" or "job" (among other things), and when feminine, it means "post" as in "post office" or "mail":

J'ai trouvé mon premier poste de libraire

I found my first bookseller position

Caption 3, Gaëlle - Librairie "Livres in Room"

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Si je venais à gagner, vous m'enverrez mon chèque par la poste.

If I were to win, you'll send me my check in the mail.

Caption 27, Patricia - Pas de crédit dans le monde des clones - Part 2

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You'll most often find the word livre in its masculine form, meaning "book." When feminine, it means "pound," as in the unit of weight and currency:

L'extérieur d'un livre s'appelle la couverture.

The outside of a book is called the cover.

Caption 4, Manon et Clémentine - Vocabulaire du livre

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Une livre équivaut à environ quatre cent cinquante-quatre grammes. 
One pound is equal to around four hundred fifty-four grams. 

Voile has related meanings in both its masculine and feminine forms. Both refer to things made of fabric—a veil (un voile) and a sail (une voile): 

Un niqab, c'est donc un voile intégral qui ne laisse, euh, voir que les yeux.

So a niqab is a full-length veil that only, uh, shows the eyes.

Caption 10, Cap Caen Normandie TV - Danse - Héla Fattoumi se dévoile

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Il a une seule voile.

It has a single sail.

Caption 11, Fred et Miami Catamarans - Les Bateaux

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

This video takes you on a tour (un tour) of Paris, making a requisite stop at the Eiffel Tower (la Tour Eiffel):

La Tour Eiffel, qui est le symbole de la France.

The Eiffel Tower, which is the symbol of France.

Caption 20, Paris Tour - Visite guidée de Paris

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Gender can be tricky in French, doubly so when you're dealing with words that can be both masculine and feminine. Remembering them is just a matter of practice. You can find a comprehensive list of dual-gender words on this page.