Bonjour! My name is David! Welcome! Follow me on In this lesson I will teach you common French phrases and expressions that are used in everyday language in France. After the video you will see the phrases written out with explanations for when to use these idioms.
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Phrases & Examples
Ce n’est pas grave!
No big deal
If somebody says something to you that they think is important or a big deal and you don’t agree with them you can use this expression. For example if you want to go outside and somebody else thinks it’s not a good idea because of bad weather you can reply, “Ce n’est pas grave!”. You can also shorten the expression to, “C’est pas grave”. That is much less formal.
Ce n’est pas la peine
It’s not worth it
This is an extremely useful expression. For example, if somebody is urging you to do something and you don’t think that spending your time to do, simply reply, “Ce n’est pas la peine.” You can also shorten this to “C’est pas la peine”.
Ça ne sert à rien
It’s not worth it
Another common phrase, “ça ne sert à rien” is very useful when you disagree with somebody else that it’s worth doing something. For example, if somebody wants you to talk to your teacher because he disagreed with with their grading policy and you don’t think ill get any results from this, simply say “ça ne sert à rien”.
Ça vaut le coup
It’s worth it
This expression is actually the opposite of “ça ne sert à rien”. So, using the example above – if you think it’s worth talking to the teacher and you’ll get a result from it you can reply, “ça vaut le coup”.
Ce n’est pas terrible
It’s not very good
This is kind of a funny expression for English speakers to use because in English terrible means bad. So if you translate this phrase literally you get, “It’s not terrible” or “It’s not bad”. However, in French, “Ce n’est pas terrible” means “It’s no good” or “It’s not good”. For example if you order a dish and a restaurant and you don’t like the taste and somebody asks you how it is you can reply, “Ce n’est pas terrible”. So, another French equivalent to this expression would be, “Ce n’est pas bon”, or “It’s not good”.
N’importe quoi!
No way, You’re full of BS
This is an extremely useful expression in French. If somebody says something to you and you feel that they are misleading you or are actually telling somewhat of a lie, i.e. BS’ing you, then you can simply reply “N’importe quoi”.
Je n’en sais rien
I don’t know anything about that
If somebody introduces the subject and asks you about it and you have no clue or idea about it you can simply say, “Je n’en sais rien”. You can also shorten this to “J’en sais rien”. When the French say this to put a lot of emphasis on the word “rien” which means nothing. That “en” is kind of tricky in French grammar and it signifies the word about – meaning the subject about which the other person is speaking.
Ce n’est pas possible
That is not possible
This expression can be translated literally. Unlike English where we don’t say, “that is not possible” very often this expression is extremely common in French. For example if you want to say no way you can simply say “Ce n’est pas possible”. This phrase can also be shortened to “C’est pas possible”.
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Tagged with: ce n'est pas grave • ce n'est pas la peine • ce n'est pas possible • je n'en sais rien • n'importe quoi
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