Language/French/Vocabulary/Bird
Welcome to our French vocabulary lesson on birds, or "les oiseaux" in French! In this lesson, you will learn various bird names and related vocabulary to enhance your French language skills. After mastering this lesson, feel free to explore other exciting topics such as French drinks, French love vocabulary, and even French martial arts terms! đŠđ«đ· Happy learning!
Bird Words[edit | edit source]
English | French Translation |
---|---|
hummingbird | colibri |
blackbird | merle |
rooster | coq |
crane | grue |
dove | colombe |
eagle | aigle |
falcon | faucon |
nightingale | rossignol |
ostrich | autruche |
owl | hibou |
partridge | perdrix |
peacock | paon |
penguin | pingouin |
pigeon | pigeon |
raven | corbeau |
robin | rouge-gorge |
sparrow | moineau |
stork | cigogne |
swallow | hirondelle |
swan | cygne |
turkey | dindon |
vulture | vautour |
canard | duck |
poule | chicken |
Expressions with birds[edit | edit source]
Petit Ă petit, l'oiseau fait son nid[edit | edit source]
- Translation: Every little bit helps
- Literal meaning: Little by little, the bird builds its nest
Comme un coq en pĂąte[edit | edit source]
- Literally: Like a rooster in dough
- Meaning: who has a comfortable and cozy existence
- Example: âQuand il est chez sa grand-mĂšre, il est comme un coq en pĂąte.â
âWhen heâs at his grandmotherâs, heâs like a rooster in dough.â
Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps[edit | edit source]
- Literally: One swallow doesn't make spring
- Meaning: One swallow doesn't make a summer
- English equivalent: One swallow does not a summer make.
The proverb has two possible meanings:
- Do not draw conclusions from a single fact or a single element.
- And, more generally: one must not rely too quickly on appearances; One person is not enough to achieve a major goal.
Politique de l'autruche[edit | edit source]
- Litterally: the ostrich policy
- Meaning: Refusal to accept danger.
- Origin: This expression recalls the legend that ostriches burrow their heads in the sand when they are afraid, which prevents them from seeing what threatens them.
- Example: "Appliquer la politique de l'autriche" means that one refuses to see the danger where it is.
Un froid de canard[edit | edit source]
- Litterally: cold of a duck
- Meaning: A big cold
Ătre un vautour[edit | edit source]
- Litterally: "be a vulture"
- Meaning: "be ruthless"
- Synonymous: ĂȘtre un requin (be a shark)
Ătre le dindon de la farce[edit | edit source]
- Litterally: "Being the stuffing turkey"
- Meaning: Getting caught up in a case.
Ătre une poule mouillĂ©e[edit | edit source]
- Litterally: Be a wet hen
- Meaning: Be a coward
- Closest English expression: Be a chicken
C'est la poule qui chante qui a fait l'Ćuf[edit | edit source]
- Litterally: The singing hen has laid the egg
- Meaning: The one who has just made a mistake or acted fooly speaks the loudest
- Closest English expression: the guilty dog barks the loudest
Un cygne noir[edit | edit source]
- Literally: a black swan
la bouche en cul de poule[edit | edit source]
A "cul de poule" mouth is a mouth whose lips form a circle because the corners are relatively close together. In its figurative sense, this expression means that a person takes on a honeyed air, in order to know or to obtain something.
Tuer la poule aux oeufs dâor[edit | edit source]
Meaning: To greedily destroy a source of promising profits. Origin: This expression finds its origin in a fable by La Fontaine: "l'abus d'une source de profits prometteurs peut la tarir définitivement".
canard boiteux[edit | edit source]
To be an ill-suited individual.
Ne pas casser trois pattes Ă un canard[edit | edit source]
- Ils ne cassent pas trois pattes Ă un canard. They're not that great.
- Tu ne casses pas trois pattes Ă un canard. You're not that great.
passer du coq Ă lâĂąne[edit | edit source]
- Meaning: to suddenly change the subject, jump between subjects, make a non sequitur
- Literally: to pass from the rooster to the donkey
Gai comme un pinson[edit | edit source]
Miroir aux alouettes[edit | edit source]
Bayer aux corneilles[edit | edit source]
Bavard comme une pie[edit | edit source]
Câest chouette ![edit | edit source]
A vol dâoiseaux[edit | edit source]
Faire le pied de grue[edit | edit source]
ĂȘtre le dindon de la farce[edit | edit source]
ĂȘtre pris pour un pigeon[edit | edit source]
ĂȘtre un vrai perroquet ![edit | edit source]
la bave du crapaud nâatteint pas la blanche colombe[edit | edit source]
triple buse ![edit | edit source]
Une cervelle de moineau[edit | edit source]
tĂȘte de linotte[edit | edit source]
Quelle bécasse ![edit | edit source]
le chant du cygne[edit | edit source]
crane de piaf[edit | edit source]
oiseaux de mauvaise augure[edit | edit source]
Ce sont de vrais tourtereaux[edit | edit source]
Faute de grives, on mange des merles[edit | edit source]
- Meaning: when you don't have what you want, you have to know how to be satisfied with what you have.
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