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The French sentence "Tu me casses les noisettes" revealed

We are going to teach you all the things you want to know about the funny French expression "Tu me casses les noisettes". To be more specific, this includes a detailed definition of what it is and how you can use it in a normal conversation with an audio example.Additionally, we also added some useful informations like synonym, dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!


English translation

  • Translation : You annoy me

  • Literal meaning : You are breaking my hazelnuts

  • Register : Informal - Funny

How to pronounce it

Slow

Normal

  • IPA : / ty mə kas le nwazɛt /

aesthetic french quote casser les noisettes

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What does it mean exactly?

Definition

Sometimes you might get so annoyed by someone that you feel like a physical pain in your body. Like if someone was crushing a part of you... your nuts for example! Isn't it annoying (and painful) to have someone crushing your nuts?

How to use it

Every time someone annoys you with their behavior, their words or even just their presence you can say: "Tu me casses les noisettes". For a more complete sentence, you can add before "Arrête !" (Stop!) or "Ça suffit !" (That's enough!)

This is not something very nice to say, but it's actually one of the nicest ways to express this feeling in French. The softest would be "Tu m'embêtes" (You annoy me).

But as you probably guessed, you should be careful with this one anyway and avoid using it in a formal situation, at work for example.

Fun facts

This structure is super powerful because you can adapt it to infinite situations. To be more precise, you can play with three things: the angriness level, the vulgarity level and reason why you are angry,

To increase the angriness level, you can replace the verb "casser" by "briser" (to crush) or "péter" ("to break" but more violent)

Then, if you are really pissed and don't care about being vulgar, you can replace "Noisettes" (Hazelnuts) by "Couilles" (Balls).

Finally, if you want to be more precise about why you are pissed, you can replace "Noisettes" with the part of your body that is concerned. For example, if someone is talking loudly, you can say: "Tu me casses les oreilles." (You are breaking my ears.)

Basically, you just have to start with "Tu me casses..." (You are breaking my...) and be creative.

Synonyms

↓ Example in a story with translation ↓

Finally, let's see an example in a parallel story with slow audio.

Avoir un chien

Have a dog

Depuis son enfance, Pierre avait toujours rêvé d'avoir un chien.
Since his childhood, Pierre had always dreamed of having a dog.
Dès qu'il a eu son appartement, il en a pris un.
As soon as he got his apartment, he took one.
Son toutou était un golden retriever.
His doggie was a golden retriever.
Il l'a appelé Cookie.
He called him Cookie.
Et il était très heureux d'avoir un chien, mais il se rendait compte que c'était une énorme responsabilité...
And he was very happy to have a dog, but he realized that it was a huge responsibility...
Il devait le nourrir, jouer avec lui, le dresser et bien sûr le promener matin et soir.
He had to feed him, play with him, train him and of course walk him in the morning and evening.

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