GiselleAn intriguing phrase: Baisser les bras, means: To throw in the towel, to give up, admitting defeat in a struggle, endeavour or fight.
Hehe.
So this came from literally lowering your arms when you surrendered - I imagine that lowering your physical arms included the arms (weapons) you held where surrendering means no longer using weapons in an attacking nor defensive stance. Not that I found this context when I looked up the origin of the phrase. But makes sense to me.
This Duolingo story is making me laugh. Junior wants to know about the world (of adults) around him. In this case about the history of churches, and more specifically why gargoyles look grotesque like monsters: "elles font peur aux oiseaux, ou quoi ?" (They want to scare the birds, or what? [well, the phrase doesn't include 'want', that's my addition])
This really made me chuckle.
Duo's cast of characters is a definite competitive advantage, fun stories well done.
I really like this one:
à la prochaine - means: see you next time!
Extra credit if you can work in "tout le monde" ("everyone") into your leave taking...
Un tonnerre d'applaudissement
Is a round of applause
More French phrases that I'm finding difficult because I don't intuitively know what they mean. Not even close!
Qu'en est-il ?
Means: How do things stand?
(the equivalent/explanation given by Duo was: Que pouvez-vous dire à ce sujet ?)
Okey-dokey.
More expressions: "J'ai pris l'habitude" means "I got into the habit"
And looks like 'prendre' also goes with the making of good resolutions (new year's resolutions): prendre de bonnes résolutions.
This is a French expression that I'll need to learn by heart because "à la rigueur" isn't sinking in as having the meaning of: "If need be", or: "even" or: at most, in a pinch.
Apparently this #FrenchPhrase translates literally as: "at the strictness" 🤔 😳 😱
Thank god for the Internet, some good examples here:
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/expressions/a-la-rigueur/
I just came across a really funny expression: "tomber dans les pommes" means to faint (to fall into the apples). As does "s'évanouir. But not as funny.
Huh, even the language app seems to understand my mood:
On a du mal à se motiver pour sortir.
We have trouble motivating ourselves to go out/leave the house.
Yup exactly.
Some French expressions are really hard to remember because their meaning is not obvious at all. I struggle to associate them with anything I already know. Example:
Faire la tête means to sulk.
A similar phrase in German (sich einen Kopf machen) actually means to think about something, a totally different meaning.
Those nonintuitive expressions will take a while to commit to my memory banks.