The French expression "Tu as du bol" explained

You are in the right place to learn all the things you want to know about the basic French expression "Tu as du bol". To be more precise, it includes a complete explanation of what it is and how to use it in everyday life with an audio example. But, we also added some useful informations like dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio, synonym and more!

French to English

Translation : You are lucky
Literal meaning : You have some bowl
Register : Informal - Basic

How to pronounce it?

Slow

Normal

IPA : / ty a dy bɔl /

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What does it mean exactly?

Definition

It literally means:

Tu as → You have
du bol → some bowl

Why would it be a sign of luck to have some bowl?

Well, because "bol" means "bowl" in modern French, but back in time it used to also mean "ass". And like in many Latin languages, the ass is associated with luck, so "To have some bowl (ass)" means "To be lucky".

Nowadays, we don't associate the word "bol" with ass anymore, so it's not that vulgar, but it's still informal.

How to use it

This is informal, so try to avoid using it at work or in any formal situation, use instead "Tu es chanceux" (You are lucky) or even more formal "Vous êtes chanceux".

Let's imagine the context allows you to say such things and you are talking with someone telling you an anecdote where he/she got super lucky. Then you can say: "Tu as vraiment du bol !" (You are really lucky!) or simply "Tu as du bol !" (You are lucky)

Fun facts

Absolutely everything said above works equally for the expression: "Tu as du pot". The only difference is that nowadays "pot" means "jar" instead of "bowl".

Synonyms

Tu as du pot. ("You have some pot/jar")
Tu as du cul. ("You have some ass")
Tu as le cul bordé de nouilles. ("Your ass is full of noodles")

Example in a dialogue

Dialogue

J'ai gagné au loto !

I won the lottery!

Mais non ? Tu as du bol !

No way? You have some bowl!*