In French slightly different

We had previously written about expressions in French that seemed to be directly translated from Dutch (or vice versa). This time we are talking about expressions that are slightly different in French.

– When you are face to face with someone, in French you say ‘nez à nez’ (nose to nose, so).

– Are you hungry like a horse, in French they are hungry like a wolf: ‘avoir une faim de loup’.

– Another one with wolves: in the Netherlands we see bears on the road, in France they say: ‘Voir des loups’.

– When the turnips are done, the French refer to carrots: ‘Les carottes sont cuites’.

– If it is dangerous for us to wake sleeping dogs, the French prefer to let cats sleep: ‘Il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort’.

– And where we say in the Netherlands that a swallow does not make summer yet, in France they choose spring: ‘Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps’.