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LEARNING FRENCH

10 French expressions for talking about sleep

Data suggests that the average French person spends close to nine hours sleeping each night - far more than Brits and Americans. Here are some of the best phrases for talking about sleep in France.

Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe takes a nap. France has a myriad of expressions for talking about sleep.
Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe takes a nap. France has a myriad of expressions for talking about sleep. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)

Before getting on to some of the funkier expressions for talking about sleep in France, it is useful to know two basic verbs: dormir (to sleep) and réveiller (to wake up). You could use those words as follows:

Je vais dormir – I am going to go to sleep. 

As-tu bien dormi? Je n’ai pas bien dormi – Did you sleep well? I didn’t sleep well

Je commence à me réveiller – I am beginning to wake up 

Un bruit fort m’a réveillé en pleine nuit – A loud noise woke me up in the middle of the night

As a nation of sleepers and poets, it is unsurprising that the French have a huge array of phrases to talk about sleep. Here is a selection of some of our favourites. 

Faire dodo 

Faire dodo means ‘to go to sleep’ and is mostly, but not exclusively, used when talking to children.

It is not a reference to the flightless bird that went extinct in the late 17th Century. Dodo is simply an abbreviation of dormir

In a sentence, you could use the expression like this:

Je vais faire dodo – I am going to go to sleep

C’est l’heure de faire dodo – It is time to go to sleep

Charles, fais dodo! – Charles, go to sleep! 

The expression métro, boulot, dodo (‘metro, work, sleep’) is often used by people with no free time to talk about the ‘daily grind’.

Le quotidien des habitants des grandes villes c’est métro, boulot, dodo. – ‘The daily lives of people who live in big cities is commuting, working and sleeping.’

Dormir comme une marmotte 

Literally translated, this phrase means ‘to sleep like a marmot’ – for British readers, this is an animal that looks something like a squirrel crossed with a beaver. During the winter, these animals hibernate underground. 

Dormir comme une marmotte means to sleep well. To that end, j’ai dormi comme une marmotte means ‘I have slept well’. 

There are several variations of this expression, all of which have the same meaning:

Dormir comme un loir – To sleep like a dormouse 

Dormir comme une souche – To sleep like a tree stump 

Dormir comme une bûche – To sleep like a log 

Dormir comme un ange – To sleep like an angel 

Dormir comme un bébé – To sleep like a baby 

Dormir à poings fermés

This phrase literally translates as ‘to sleep with closed fists’ – but really is just another expression to say that you have slept well. 

On lui avait conseillé de dormir à poings fermés avant le match – We advised him to sleep well before the match 

J’ai dormi à poings fermés – I slept well 

Un sommeil de plomb

Another expression to convey having a good sleep is dormir d’un sommeil de plomb, which literally translates as: ‘a sleep of lead’. As a heavy metal, the word ‘lead’ is used to suggest that someone has slept heavily. 

Elle s’endormit d’un sommeil de plomb jusqu’au lendemain matin – She slept heavily until the next morning

T’as un sommeil de plomb – You are a heavy sleeper 

Ma mère a toujours eu un sommeil de plomb – My mother has always been a heavy sleeper 

Tomber dans les bras de Morphée 

In ancient Greek mythology, Morpheus is a god of sleep and dreams. 

Tomber dans les bras de Morphée literally translates as ‘to fall into Morpheus’ arms’.

But it is used more accurately simply to mean ‘to fall asleep’. Despite its classical origins, this phrase remains widely used in France today – particularly in the print media. 

Je suis tombé dans les bras de Morphée – I fell asleep

Dormir sur ses deux oreilles

This phrase literally translates ‘to sleep on one’s two ears’ but once again is really used to mean ‘to sleep well’. 

Avez-vous dormi sur vos deux oreilles? – Did you sleep well?

Ne dormir que d’un œil

Even for the French, it is difficult to get a great night of sleep every single night.

Ne dormir que d’un œil is a phrase used to convey getting a bad night of sleep and literally translates as ‘to only sleep with one eye’.

The next day you might be fatigué (tired), crevé (wiped out), épuisé (exhausted) or sur les rotules (on your knees). 

Nuit blanche 

Nuit blanche (‘white night’) is the term used in French to describe an all-nighter. 

It is a versatile phrase that can be used when you have spent all night in the club or when you haven’t slept a wink because your baby has kept you awake. 

Après une nuit blanche avec le bébé, il était en retard au travail ce matin – After a sleepless night with the baby, he was late for work this morning.

Il y a une grande variété de musique réservée pour la nuit blanche – There’s a great variety of music booked for the all-nighter.

Se coucher avec les poules

This phrase literally translates as ‘to sleep with the chickens’ but actually is used to describe going to bed early. This is because most chickens go to sleep as soon as the sun goes down. 

Elle a l’habitude de se coucher avec les poules – She is used to going to bed early

Aller au pieu/Pieuter 

A list of top sleep expressions wouldn’t be complete without a bit of slang thrown in. 

If French, pieu is slang for bed. So instead of saying aller au lit (‘to go to bed’), you can say aller au pieu

You can even take this one step further, using the verb pieuter

Je pieute chez ma copine – I am sleeping at my girlfriend’s house 

Je vais me pieuter – I am going to sleep 

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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.

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’abstentiontoe 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 droiteEmmanuel 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

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