You are going to learn all the things you want to know about the basic expression "J'ai du pain sur la planche". This include a complete explanation of what it is and how you can use it in a casual conversation with an audio example. But wait, we also added some useful things like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example, literal meaning and more!
Translation : I have a lot to do
Literal meaning : I have bread on the board
Register : Informal - Basic
Slow
Normal
IPA : / ʒe dy pɛ̃ syʁ la plɑ̃ːʃ /
Finally! A French idiom with bread! But where is it coming from and why does it mean: "To have a lot of work"?
Few centuries ago, it meant "To have a lot of resources" and it was a sign of prosperity/capacity to survive.
But weirdly, with time it became a way to say "I have a lot to do". Just like every morning, the baker sees all the uncooked bread on the board as a sign of the hard work he still has to accomplish.
Whenever someone asks you if you are available for something, but you can't because you have a lot of things to do. You can say: "Je ne peux pas, j'ai du pain sur la planche". (I can't, I have some bread on the board)
No, you can't say "J'ai des baguettes sur la planche" sorry.
↓ Example in a story with French audio ↓
Finally, let's see an example in a parallel story with slow audio.
Invité à une soirée
Invited to a party
10%
The story just started!
Get full access to 365 texts and quizzes, including this one.
Discover more Already a member? Full story and quiz here.
MANUAL
Mode
SHOW
Translation
