Language/French/Vocabulary/Animal

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Les animaux (animals)

Here is a word list to learn the names of animals.

Enjoy !

Welcome to our lesson on French Vocabulary → Animal 🐾! As a French language teacher with 20 years of experience, I am excited to help you expand your knowledge of the beautiful French language. In this lesson, we will explore the fascinating world of animals and their names in French. But don't stop here! After mastering the animal kingdom, you can also dive into other related topics such as French music and entertainment vocabulary, learn about words with different spellings in French, and even practice your French numbers. So, let's embark on this linguistic adventure together and discover the rich vocabulary of animals in French! 🦁

Words[edit | edit source]

French English
la baleine whale
la chèvre goat
la girafe giraffe
la limace slug
la méduse jellyfish
la poule hen
la raie skate
la sauterelle grasshopper
la tortue turtle
la vache cow
l'araignée spider
le canard duck
le cerf stag
le chat cat
le cheval horse
le chien dog
le cochon pig
le coq cock
le criquet locust
le crocodile crocodile
le dauphin dolphin
le faon fawn
le hamster hamster
le hérisson hedgehog
le lapin rabbit
le lion lion
le loup wolf
le morse walrus
le moustique mosquito
la mouche fly
le mouton sheep
le phoque seal
le serpent snake
le renard fox
le requin shark
le rhinocéros rhinoceros
le sanglier wild boar
le singe monkey
le tigre tiger
le zèbre zebra
l'éléphant elephant
l'escargot snail
l'oiseau bird
l'orque killer-whale
l'ours bear
le kangourou kangaroo
Un écureuil A squirrel
Une grenouille A frog

Expressions[edit | edit source]

Faire l'autruche / pratiquer la politique de l'autruche[edit | edit source]

We use this expression to talk about someone who refuses to face reality and prefers to bury his head in the ground "like an ostrich".

écraser une mouche avec un marteau-pilon[edit | edit source]

  • Litteraly: crush a fly with a hammer
  • Meaning: Take disproportionate measures to resolve a problem.

Appeller un chat un chat[edit | edit source]

  • litteraly: call a cat a cat
  • Meaning: Say thing frankly

Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide[edit | edit source]

  • Litteraly: scalded cat fears cold water
  • Meaning: every unhappy experience serves as a lesson of caution

Il pleut comme vache qui pisse[edit | edit source]

  • Register: familiar
  • literally: It rains like cow who pees.
  • English Meaning: It’s raining very hard.
  • French Meaning: Il pleut très fort.

rire comme une baleine[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to laugh one’s head off, to roar with laughter
  • Lit.: to laugh like a whale
  • Example: Quand elle m’a raconté l’histoire, j’ai ri comme une baleine. When she told me the story, I laughed my head off.
  • Note: you might also see se marrer comme une baleine as a variation of this idiom. (Se marrer is just an informal word for rire.)

être fait comme un rat[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to be cornered, to have no escape, to be trapped
  • Lit.: to be trapped like a rat
  • Example: Dès que la police a encerclé la maison, le suspect était fait comme un rat. As soon as the police surrounded the house, the suspect was trapped.
  • Note: fait can be used as an informal word for “trapped”.

être serrés comme des sardines[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to be packed like sardines, to be crowded very close together
  • Lit.: to be packed like sardines
  • Example: Les voyageurs étaient serrés comme des sardines. The passengers were packed like sardines.

sauter du coq à l’âne[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to jump from one subject to another, to suddenly change the subject
  • Lit.: to jump from the rooster to the donkey
  • Example: Il saute du coq à l’âne sans arrêt. He constantly jumps from one subject to another.
  • Note: you may see this idiom used with passer instead of sauter. Both variations have the same meaning.

avoir d’autres chats à fouetter[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to have other fish to fry
  • Lit.: to have other cats to whip
  • Example: Je ne peux pas sortir ce soir, j’ai d’autres chats à fouetter. I can’t go out tonight, I’ve got other fish to fry.


être rusé comme un renard[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to be as cunning as a fox, to be sly
  • Lit: to be cunning like a fox
  • Example: Je ne ferais pas confiance à Bruno, il est rusé comme un renard. I wouldn’t trust Bruno, he’s as sly as a fox.

quand les poules auront des dents[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: pigs might fly, when pigs fly
  • Lit.: when hens have teeth
  • Example:
    • Un jour, je serai un millionnaire. Oui, quand les poules auront des dents !

“One day, I’ll be a millionaire. Yes, and pigs might fly!”

avoir un chat dans la gorge[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to have a frog in one’s throat, to be hoarse
  • Lit.: to have a cat in one’s throat
  • Example: Il a eu un chat dans la gorge pendant son discours.

He had a frog in his throat during his speech.

temps de chien[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: dreadful weather
  • Lit.: dog’s weather
  • Example: Il fait un temps de chien !

It’s dreadful weather!

revenons à nos moutons ![edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: let’s get back to the topic at hand, let’s get back on track (after a digression)
  • Lit.: let’s come back to our sheep!
  • Example: << Nous avons encore changé de sujet ! Alors, revenons à nos moutons ! >>

“We’ve changed the subject again! Right, let’s get back on track!”

parler le français comme une vache espagnole[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: to speak poor French, to speak French really badly
  • Lit.: to speak French like a Spanish cow


  • Example: Je ne peux pas du tout le comprendre, il parle le français comme une vache espagnole.

I can’t understand him at all, his French is awful.

en parlant du loup[edit | edit source]

  • Meaning: speaking of the devil
  • Lit.: speaking of the wolf
  • Example: Tiens, en parlant du loup, voilà Paul qu’arrive.

“Hey, speaking of the devil, here comes Paul now.”

  • Note: in the same way that we say “speak of the devil” in English, you can also say quand on parle du loup in French.

Videos[edit | edit source]

15 Funny Colloquial French Expressions with Animals[edit | edit source]

Animals Expressions in French[edit | edit source]


Other Lessons[edit | edit source]

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