Une bête de somme means a workhorse or a beast of burden. Back in the 12th century, “une somme” meant the load that a horse or a mule could carry. Then, in the 16th century, the term “bête de somme” arrived. These days, the more common word for burden is “un fardeau,” but the term “bête de somme” survives in its original form.
The way to say “thank you” in French involves words like “merci,” “remerciements” and “remercier.” Most people are familiar with “merci,” but may not have heard of the other two words. Merci “Merci” is either an exclamation or a masculine noun meaning “thanks” or “thank you.” Remerciements “Les remerciements” (masculine plural) is a noun meaning…
“Blanchir de l’argent” is a French expression meaning “to launder money.” Literally it means to whiten or to whitewash money, but in English you would say to launder. Just like the English expression, “blanchir de l’argent” means to give illegally gained money a valid, legal existence by hiding its criminal origins. This is done in…
The French idiom “aller à la selle” means literally “to go to the saddle.” But it doesn’t really have anything to do with horse riding. What it literally means is “to go to the toilet,” or “to have a bowel movement.” The saying is somewhat dated, so it is not used very frequently these days,…
“Pareil” is a French word that can be used either as an adjective, a noun or an adverb. Adjective As an adjective, “pareil” means “similar” or “such.” It must agree in number and gender with the noun it describes, just like any other French adjective. Its feminine form is spelled “pareille.” Noun “Pareil” can also…
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…
There are few different ways of translating the verb “to happen” into French. You can use the French verbs “se passer,” “arriver” or “se produire.” Let’s look at some examples of each, in order of most frequent usage. se passer arriver se produire