4 easy cat expressions to sound French

“Minou Minou” Words called to cats in France …

Did you know this means “puss” in French? 

You probably learnt “Un chat” in your early learning of French. 

You know, you can sound far more French when you use more common words and idiomatic expressions in your conversations. We haven’t always learnt the ‘real’ words if we used a textbook to learn, so . . . 

Today you will discover:

• Four great expressions using “chat” in French

• Great contextual examples

• How to remember them when in spontaneous conversations

The difference between the English “chat” and the French “chat”.

To begin with, in French, there’s the English word “chat” like you use it. In other words, you chat with someone in a chat.

However, the French word “chat” refers to the animal: the cat.

And the feminine is “chatte”. For the masculine, you never pronounce the final letter and for the feminine, you do say the “t” sound. 

Five contextual examples with the French word “chat”.

When we learn a language, it’s always fun to dive into these idiomatic expressions native people use daily, which are fun. However, it is imperative to grasp their meaning to avoid any misinterpretations.

Let’s play with 4 examples of the French word “chat”.

The first one is similar to the English expression except that the animal is another one!

• Avoir un chat dans la gorge  >>> to have a frog in your throat.

Here’s an example for you:

• Je ne vais pas chanter aujourd’hui - j’ai un chat dans la gorge et ça me fait tousser. >>> I can’t sing today - I’ve got a frog in my throat and it’s making me cough.

The following one refers to people or no one to be specific:

• Il n’y a pas un chat  >>> there isn’t a soul around. 

You could use it like this:

• Il avait neigé dans la nuit et il n’y avait personne dans la forêt, pas un chat. >>> It had snowed during the night and there was nobody in the forest, not a soul.

The next one is a synonym of stuff or things. 

• Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter  >>> to have better things to do.

I have a context for you:

• On m’a demandé d’aider avec le repas, mais avec tout mon travail, j’avais d’autres tâches plus importantes à faire. >>> I was asked to help with the meal but with all my work, I had more important things to do.

You could easily use the idiomatic expression like this:

• On m’a demandé d’aider avec le repas, mais avec tout mon travail, j’avais d’autres chats à fouetter. >>> I was asked to help with the meal but with all my work, I had more important things to do.

Don’t take this expression personally because avoir d’autres chats à fouetter means to have other cats to slap!

The last one is exactly the English translation of

• Quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent.  >>> While the cat’s away, the mice will play.

Imagine this context:

• Quand l’autorité est absente, les gens en profitent pour faire ce qu’ils veulent. >>> When there’s no authority, people take advantage to do what they want. 

Here, the chat is the authority and the mice are the people.

Tips to learn the idiomatic expressions in French.

To start with, choose one thing at a time and master it. Once you do, you can add more to your list.

Then, say it aloud to memorise it.

The word is not enough. Indeed, if you put it into context with your own example it will facilitate.

Then, you want to practice as much as possible or you will forget it.

In a nutshell, there is no need to learn a lot. You would better apply your learning in order to speak French simultaneously with confidence. 

In this mini-lesson, you have seen four idiomatic expressions with the word “chat”:

• Avoir un chat dans la gorge  >>> to have a frog in your throat.
• Il n’y a pas un chat  >>> there isn’t a soul around. 
• Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter  >>> to have better things to do.
• Quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent.  >>> While the cat’s away, the mice will play.

I have other mini-lessons about French expressions for you:

What “histoire de” means in French 

How to use the expression AVOIR BEAU

Which expressions with the word “chat” did you know? Do you know others with animals in French?