“Avoir les jambes en coton” means literally “to have legs of cotton” or “to have cotton legs.” It means to have no strength left in your legs, to have weak legs or to have unsteady legs. In English, you would probably say that you had “legs like jelly,” “jelly legs,” “rubber legs” or “shaky legs.”
The French verb “exiger” means “to demand,” “to require,” or “to insist upon.” It comes from the Latin verb “exigere,” which means “to drive out” or “to demand.” Examples: Conjugation Présent j’exigetu exigesil exigenous exigeonsvous exigezils exigent Passé composé j’ai exigétu as exigéil a exigénous avons exigévous avez exigéils ont exigé
This expression means to have a lot to do, or to have numerous tasks to accomplish. But this expression originally meant to have resources for the future, or to be assured of lacking for nothing. That’s because before the start of the 20th century, French bread used to last a long time. Then, as people…
Many irregular French verbs are used in compound form to make new verbs with new meanings. The compound versions follow the same conjugation method as the original verb. Homologues are verbs that resemble the original verb in spelling and are conjugated in the same basic way. venir to come s’abstenir to abstain advenir to happen…
Expressions of Quantity in French and the Use of “de” In French, most expressions of quantity are followed by “de” before the noun. This rule is consistent in many cases, but there are notable exceptions, such as words like “plusieurs” and some idiomatic expressions. When to Use “de” After Expressions of Quantity Many expressions of…
The French phrase “garder une poire pour la soif” means “to keep a pear for thirst” in English. It is a saying used to talk about saving something for the future. Long ago, people used to carry a pear with them when they traveled or faced uncertain times. The pear was chosen because it could…
How do you say “time” in French? It depends what sort of time you want to talk about. In French, there are several types of time, not just one. “Le temps” means time in general, or time as a duration. “La fois” means time as an occasion, or as part of a sequence of occasions….