The French phrase "Arrête de faire l'andouille" revealed

On this page, we are going to explain you everything you have to know about the basic French expression “Arrête de faire l’andouille”.

To be clear, this includes a detailed explanation of what it is and how to use it in everyday life with an audio example. As well as the useful informations we sprinkled like synonyms, dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio and more!

Oh and before I forget, on this page you will find our others expressions pages and all our content about French words on this page. Happy learning!

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Translation in English

How to pronounce

Slow pronunciation

Normal pronunciation

What does it mean?

Definition

  • Arrête → Stop
  • De faire → To do
  • L’andouille → The sausage

It’s a common and soft way to say to someone that he/she is acting stupid. The exact origin of this expression is unknown.

How to use it

If someone around you is “acting like a sausage” a.k.a. acting stupid, you can say “Arrête de faire l’andouille“.

This is familiar and, depending on the situation, it might get perceived as “kidding” but also criticism. 

If you say it to tease a close friend about something, he/she will probably laugh about it. But if you say it to someone you barely know and with an aggressive tone, people won’t react the same way, so be careful when you use this one.

Synonyms and similarities

Example in a story with slow French audio

Now, let’s see a complete example of this expression in a story with slow French audio and the English translation below.
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Un monologue embarrassant
An embarrassing monologue
___
Après une journée à la plage, Nicolas retourna à l’appartement.
After a day at the beach, Nicolas came back to the apartment.
Il entra et entendit du bruit dans le salon…
He came in and heard some noise in the living room…
Brigitte:   Allez !
Arrête de faire l’andouilleLiterally: Stop acting like a sausage
!
Come on! Stop acting stupidly!
Nicolas entra dans le salon et découvrit Brigitte assise dans le canapé, la télé était allumée…
Nicolas came in the room and found Brigitte sitting on the couch, the TV was on…
Il était perplexe…
He was confused…
Nicolas:   Tu parles à quelqu’un ?
Are you talking to someone?
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