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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Word of the Day: aïe

More of a sound than a word but still very common... although hopefully you won't need it too often.

Published: 25 April 2019 17:03 CEST
French Word of the Day: aïe
Photo: Depositphotos

Why do I need to know aïe?

Aïe is a sound you will hear a lot around France and it may be one that moves you to ask the person who utters it if they're ok. 

One thing you can be sure of is that you definitely don't want to be in a position where you're saying it a lot. 

So, what does it mean?

The action that goes with this word is a deep frown or perhaps even a wince of pain, because it is the French equivalent of 'ouch!' or 'ow!' in English. 

So for example you might say: Aïe! Je me suis piqué le doigt. – Ow! I pricked my finger. 

Or Aïe! Aïe! Aïe! Je viens de me couper. – Ouch! I just cut my finger.

It can also mean 'oh', 'oh dear', 'oh no' or 'oh my'. 

In this case, you might say: Aïe! Que se passe-t-il? – Oh my! What's happening? 

How is it pronounced?

This one's a little hard to put into words, but luckily here's an example of how to pronounce it online. 

For more French Expressions and French Words of the Day you can CLICK HERE to see our full list

 

 

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Expression of the Day: Caillou dans la chaussure

This one might come in handy when you’re complaining about French bureaucracy.

Published: 25 June 2024 10:27 CEST
French Expression of the Day: Caillou dans la chaussure

Why do I need to know Caillou dans la chaussure?

Because, sometimes, you just need to tell someone about your frustration with life’s little, annoying, metaphorically painful niggles.

What does it mean?

Caillou dans la chaussure – roughly pronounced kay-oo don la shass-your – translates as ‘stone in the shoe’, is a phrase as old as time, and means exactly what it says.

You can use this in a literal sense, for example if you’re hiking and get gravel in your boots, but it’s more usually used as a metaphor.

When someone says they have a pebble in their shoe, it means that something is not right – and it describes the metaphorical feeling of something troublesome that is more painful than it really needs to be and is creating bigger problems than its size would suggest.

You can use it about your own problems, and it’s also used to describe something that is a big problem for someone else – in English you might say something is the ‘millstone around their neck’ to describe a big, weighty problem that won’t go away.

Use it like this

Nouvelle-Calédonie : le gros caillou dans la chaussure de Macron – New Caledonia is the millstone around Macron’s neck

Nous connaissons tous cette sensation désagréable d’avoir un caillou coincé dans notre chaussure – We all know that unpleasant feeling of having a stone stuck in our shoe.

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