Discover the French phrase "Couper la poire en deux"

Get prepared to find out all the things you need to know about the funny French idiom "Couper la poire en deux". It includes a detailed explanation of what it is and how to use it in a dialogue with an audio example. As well as the useful things we sprinkled like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example, synonyms and more!

French to English

Translation : To make a compromise
Literal meaning : Cut the pear in half
Register : Informal - Funny

How to pronounce

Slow

Normal

IPA : / kupe la pwaʁ‿ ɑ̃ dø /

aesthetic french quote couper la poire en deux

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What does it mean exactly?

Definition

The literal meaning is:

Couper → To cut
la poire → the pear
en deux → in two (pieces)

This expression appeared during the 1880s and is based on the image of a pear that is cut in half equally for a fair share between two people. Why the choice of the pear is still a mystery...

How to use it

Imagine: you are in the middle of a tough negotiation and both sides don't want to give up. You can propose a compromise by saying "Faisons un compromis" (Let's make a compromise) or "Coupons la poire en deux" (Let's cut the pear in half)

Synonyms / Related

Faire un compromis → To make a compromise
Partager en deux → To split in two

↓ Example in a story with slow French audio ↓

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

Le compromis

The compromise

Emily et Philippe avaient une relation respectueuse et attentionnée.

Emily and Philippe had a respectful and caring relationship.

Ils essayaient de garder leur relation saine et de beaucoup communiquer.

They were trying to keep their relationship healthy and to communicate a lot.

Si quelque chose les dérangeaient, ils en parlaient.

If something was bothering them, they would talk about it.

Emily a découvert que Philippe jouait aux jeux vidéos pendant des heures tous les soirs.

Emily found out that Philippe was playing video games for hours every night.

Elle n'avait rien contre les jeux vidéos, mais elle savait qu'il était fatigué à cause de cette mauvaise habitude.

She had nothing against video games, but she knew that he was tired because of this bad habit.

Elle a donc décidé d'en parler.

So, she decided to talk about it.