I love French idioms and expressions!  They can be so challenging to a language learner, yet so empowering once mastered.  Today, we’re going to talk about some idioms and phrases you can use in any setting including at work when chatting to friends or colleagues.

Let’s imagine you’re not feeling very well.  Maybe you need an excuse to go home or an excuse not to go to that after-work event.  Well, if you are talking to French colleagues, you could say: “Je ne suis pas en forme.”

And what if you’re talking to a colleague about your boss or someone else and suddenly that person shows up…well, when in English we would say “Talk of the devil!” in French you could say: “Quand on parle du loup on en voit la queue“.

And how many of you have at least once stuck your foot in your mouth?  Well, if you are explaining to a French friend or colleague how you did this, you could say: “J’ai fait une gaffe” or “J’ai mis les pieds dans le plat“.

Have you ever wanted to celebrate that new raise or a new job within your company or anything else with your friends or colleagues?  Well, if they are French, you could tell them on such an occasion: “On va faire la fête!”

Or actually, perhaps you are the person getting invited to that party and you wish to politely turn down the invitation.  After telling them you can’t go, just say: “Merci quand même” and you won’t seem rude at all for rejecting the invite.

Maybe you went to the party and your colleague is boring you because he/she won’t stop talking shop (parler du boulot).  What a drag! (Quelle barbe!)