prendre de la bouteille

ByFast French

The French saying “prendre de la bouteille” literally means “to take from the bottle.” What it really means is to gain maturity, to acquire experience or to grow old. This expression was originally used for wine, which is something that improves with age.

It was then applied to anything that is capable of aging, including humans.

The English equivalent of this saying would be “to get some experience (or time) under one’s belt.”

It is not known when this saying first originated.

Don’t miss new articles!

Get 1 email a week with new articles about French

We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy

Similar Posts

  • être mal barré

    ByFast French

    The French saying “être mal barré” means “to get off to a bad start,” “to be heading for failure,” or “to get into big trouble.” Literally it translates as “to be badly steered” or “to be badly guided,” in the nautical sense of steering or guiding. “La barre” is the tiller or the helm of…

  • Grammar: Irregular verbs

    ByFast French

    Here are the 19 most important irregular verbs to know in French. They are important because they are very frequently used. They are also important to know because many exist in compound form (eg, venir is used in the compound forms revenir, devenir, prévenir, provenir, convenir, survenir and advenir, among others). Since these 19 verbs…

  • passer au caviar

    ByFast French

    The French idiom “passer au caviar” means literally “to pass to the caviar” or “to switch to the caviar.” This expression comes from Russia. Under the rule of Tsar Nicholas I (1825-1855), censorship was common. In books and journals, areas that had been censored were covered in black ink. This black ink was the same…

  • Occupe-toi de tes oignons

    ByFast French

    Literally this expression means “occupy yourself with your onions.” But it translates into English as “Mind your own business.” It is sometimes abbreviated to “c’est pas tes oignons” or simply “pas tes oignons” (none of your business, or “not your onions”). One theory as to the origin of this expression comes from the word “l’oigne,” which…

  • to bump into, to come across

    ByFast French

    Sometimes you meet a friend, an acquaintance or a coworker by pure chance, rather than because you had arranged to meet them in advance. There are a few different ways to translate the English phrases “to bump into” or “to come across” in French. rencontrer The French verb “rencontrer” mainly means “to meet” or “to…