Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

LEARNING FRENCH

‘Paté in the armpits’ – 10 ways to say you’re sweating in French

After an unsettled start to the summer, things are hotting up in France. Luckily, the French language is rich with ways to express that you're feeling somewhat hot and bothered.

Published: 30 July 2020 15:58 CEST
Updated: 22 July 2021 12:07 CEST
'Paté in the armpits' - 10 ways to say you’re sweating in French
Former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was more than a little damp after he delivered a speech on the closing day of the Socialist Party Summer Congress in 2015. Photo: AFP
After an unusually cold and wet start to July, temperatures across France are rising, while the south east of the country is seeing particularly scorching days.
 

 
 
 
Chances are that, if don’t live inside a fridge, you’ll be dripping with sweat at several points during the next few weeks.
 
Thankfully, there are several ways of exclaiming in French that you’re feeling rather warm.
 
1. Suer comme un porc 

First the classic ‘sweating like a pig’ also exists in French. Suer comme un porc means exactly the same as the English variant and is not the most original expression on the list, but it’s a safe bet.

Je dois rentrer pour me doucher avant le dîner, j’ai sué comme un porc aujourd’hui. – I have to go back home and shower before the dinner, I’ve been sweating like a pig today.

2. Transpirer comme un bœuf

‘To sweat like a bullock’ is a very common French way of saying that you’re sweating like a pig (some say it’s even more common than suer comme un porc).

Je n’ai pas trop envie de sortir ce soir, on va transpirer comme des bœufs ! – I don’t really want to go out tonight, we will sweat like pigs!

You can also use suer comme un bœuf, which means the same.

Paris can be scorching hot in the summer. Photo: AFP 

3. Suinter
 
Suinter means ‘to ooze’, but the expression je suinte literally means ‘I am melting drop by drop’, which is a pretty telling way of saying that it’s a little too hot out for your taste.
 
If you’re sat in the sun and would like to move into the shade, you could say, ça vous dérange si on bouge à l’ombre ? Je suinte tellement, c’est insupportable. – Would you guys mind if we move into the shade? I’m melting, it’s unbearable.
 
4. Fondre
 
Fondre means ‘to melt’, so if you say je fonds it means ‘I’m melting’. Pretty self-explanatory. Tu veux qu’on rentre ? Tu es en train de fondre comme une petite glace au soleil. – Do you want us to go back home? You’re melting like an ice cream in the sun.
 

When you’re practically dripping with sweat, you can say that you’re ‘swimming’. Photo: AFP

5. Etre en nage

This expression means that ‘to be swimming’, which means that you are practically bathing in your own sweat. A similar expression is être en sueur (sweating), but être en nage implies that you’re sweating a very large volume.

Ca fait une heure que je suis debout sous le soleil, je suis en nage. – I’ve been standing out in the sun for an hour, I’m sweating buckets.

6. Perdre les eaux

Perdre les eaux means ‘to lose water’. Normally this expression signifies when a woman’s water breaks before she gives birth – but you can also use it about sweating excessively.

Il fait plus que 40C ! Je sais, je perds les eaux là, il faut bien s’hydrater. – It’s more than 40C outside! I know, I’m sweating so much, we need to hydrate well.

7. Avoir les mains moites

This expression refers to your hands only and means ‘to have sweaty hands’. Je n’ai pas trop envie de lui serrer la main, mes mains sont tellement moites. – I don’t really want to shake hands with him/her, my hands are so sweaty.

Feeling like you’re boiling yet? Photo: AFP

9. Avoir des auréoles sous les bras

In French, when you have sweat rings under your arms, they’re called ‘halos’. Auréoles sous les bras literally translates to ‘halos beneath the arms’, which is a pretty way of describing dark and malodorous sweat rings.

Tu devrais changer ta chemise avant l’interview, tu as des auréoles sous les bras. – You should change shirts before the interview, you have sweat rings under your arms.

You can also say avoir des rillettes sous les bras, but it’s less commonly used. Rillette is similar to paté so you are basically saying that you have chunks of meat paste in your armpits. Tasty.

10. Avoir le rideau qui colle aux fenêtres 

This expression translates as ‘to have the curtain sticking to the windows’. Rideau (curtain) here refers to your underpants and fenêtres (windows) to your butt cheeks.

Il fait tellement chaud, à chaque fois que je me relève, j’ai le rideau qui colle aux fenêtres. – It’s so hot, every time I get up my knickers are stuck to my bum.

It’s pretty vulgar so don’t use it with your French boss or mother-in-law, but if you’re among close friends you could impress them with your slang skills. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

ELECTIONS

10 essential French phrases to help you understand France’s snap election

Here are some of the words and phrases that you're likely to hear during the campaign for upcoming parliamentary elections in France.

Published: 12 June 2024 15:48 CEST
10 essential French phrases to help you understand France's snap election

France heads to the polls at the end of the month, after President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election following a humiliating loss in the recent European vote.

If you’re either following French media or talking talking with your French friends, colleagues or neighbours then here are a few handy phrases to understand.

READ ALSO What would a victory for Le Pen’s party mean for France?

Législatives – these elections are parliamentary elections, where the voters are picking their local representative in the Assemblée nationale and therefore determining the make-up of the French parliament. They are known in French as les élections législatives or more commonly simply les législatives (pronounced roughly as lej-is-la-teev).

They are distinct from un élection présidentielle, which elects the president.

Scrutin – Scrutin, pronounced scroo-tan, is a word used to describe the vote. Le jour du scrutin = the day of the vote. 

Sondage – Sondage, pronounced son-darjh, is an opinion poll. 

They are frequently used in French media coverage of elections and provide a guide as to which issues are important for voters and which candidates are the most popular. 

As is always the case, however, they should be taken with a pinch of salt. Experts note that a number of variables can influence the result of a poll, including timing, phrasing, whether it is conducted online or in-person and the make-up of the sample. 

READ ALSO Who can vote in France’s snap parliamentary elections?

Aux urnes – Classic history rears its head every time there’s an election in France, with this snappy, headline-friendly term that dates back to antiquity.

Aux urnes – pronounced ohz urns – is the act of voting itself, and references the ancient Greek manner of voting, in which light or dark-coloured pebbles were placed into an urn to indicate a voter’s intentions. It basically means ‘to the ballot box’, but because its phrasing echoes the French national anthem’s famous line of Aux armes citoyens it’s used as a rallying call for people to vote.

Taux de participation – Taux de participation, pronounced toe de parti sipass-ion, literally means ‘rate of participation’. 

In an electoral context, this is used to describe the voter turnout – the percentage of the voting age population who cast their vote during an election. 

READ ALSO A voté: How to register and cast your vote in France

Voter turnout tends to be significantly lower in legislative, municipal and EU parliament elections in France – June’s European elections, the result of which in France prompted Macron to call the snap parliamentary poll, saw a turnout of 51.49 percent, one-and-a-half points higher than in 2019.

The opposite of a taux de participation is a taux d’abstention – toe dab-stenss-ion – abstention rate. 

Premier tour/ deuxieme tour – As in presidential elections in French parliamentary elections, there are two rounds of voting. These rounds are referred to as tours, pronounced tore. 

In the first round (June 30th) the electorate can cast their vote for any of the official candidates.  

If any of these candidates win an absolute majority in the first round of the election (more than 50 percent of the vote) then there is no need for a second round. If no-one gets 50 percent, the top-scoring candidates from this first round then face off in a second round (July 7th), with the highest scoring candidate winning.

In presidential elections only the two highest scorers from round one go through to round two. However in parliamentary elections anyone who got more than 12.5 percent of the vote goes through to the second round – so second rounds can be a three or even four-person run-off.

Dissolution – Britons in France, cast your mind back to history lessons in school, and Henry VIII’s ‘dissolution of the monasteries’, and you’ll be on the right sort of lines. In 21st-century French political terms ‘dissolution’ – pronounced diss-o-loose-eon – means winding up, or termination of the current parliament to prepare for the election.

READ ALSO Macron dissolves parliament and calls elections after big EU vote defeat

Front republicain – The concept of a ‘Front republicain’ – pronounced front re-publee-cahn – is far from new. It’s the idea that, when necessary, France’s mainstream parties put aside their differences in order to combat extremists, particularly those among the far-right movement.

It has been seen in the second round of the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022, when the final candidates were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron – and in that context plenty of people who detest Macron and all that he stands for cast their vote for him because they considered the alternative, a far-right president of France, was much worse.

For these parliamentary elections, the Front Républicain is more to do with political parties and essentially involves parties making agreements not to run candidates against each other in certain constituencies, to avoid splitting the vote and allowing in  a Rassemblement National candidate.

It’s sometimes also known as a Front populaire.

READ ALSO What happens next as France heads for snap elections?

Pari fou – This is not a standard election phrase, admittedly. Pari fou – pronounced, pretty much as it’s written, parry foo – means crazy bet. 

It has been used to describe Macron’s decision to go to the polls – and it has the advantage of being short and snappy, so newspaper subs love it because it makes for a punchy headline.

Barrage – Another non-standard French electioneering term. A barrage – pronounced bah-rarjh – is a dam.

In today’s politics, it is being used to describe efforts to block the electoral path to power for the far-right parties. As in the headline: Emmanuel Macron appelle les électeurs à se rendre aux urnes pour faire barrage à l’extrême droite – Emmanuel Macron calls on voters to go to the polls to block the far right.

READ ALSO Macron asks backing from all ‘able to say no to extremes’ in snap vote

SHOW COMMENTS