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Are you ready to learn all the things you have to know about the funny idiom "J'ai le cafard"? To be clear, this includes a complete guide of what it is and how to use it in everyday life with an audio example. Plus, we also added some super useful stuff like synonym, dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!
Translation : I have the blues
Literal meaning : I have the cockroach
Register : Informal - Funny
Slow
Normal
IPA : / ʒe lə kafaʁ /
It literally means:
Introduced by Charles Baudelaire in 1857 in "Les Fleurs du mal" this expression designates dark thoughts that can settle in the head, just like cockroaches in a house.
You can use it to talk about how you feel: "Je m'en vais, j'ai le cafard." (I'm leaving, I got the blues.)
Or to ask someone about how he/she feels: "Tu vas bien ? On dirait que tu as le cafard." (Are you ok? You seem to have the blues.)
↓ Example in a story with slow French audio ↓
Finally, let's see an example in a parallel story with slow audio.
Cafard ou Coccinelle ?
Cockroach or ladybug?
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