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Discover the French expression "Faire la grasse matinée"

You are in the right place to discover everything you have to know about the funny idiom "Faire la grasse matinée". This include a detailed explanation of what it is and how to use it in everyday life with an audio example. But wait, we also added some useful stuff like dialogue example, literal meaning, slow pronunciation audio and more!


Translation in English

  • Translation : To sleep in

  • Literal meaning : To make the fat morning​

  • Register : Informal - Funny

Pronunciation

Slow

Normal

  • IPA : / fɛʁ la ɡʁas matine /

aesthetic french quote grasse matinee

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What does it mean?

Definition

It literally means:

 

We use the expression "Faire la grasse matinée" about someone sleeping until very late. The closest translation in English is "To sleep in".

Here, the term "grasse" (fat) can be associated with something soft and smooth, such as a bed in which one can relax for a long time. But it can also come from the Latin "crassus" (thick), to express a prolonged morning, because it's "thicker" (longer) than usual.

How to use it

When talking about yourself, you can use for example "J'ai fait la grasse matinée" (I slept in) or "Ce week-end, je vais faire la grasse matinée" (This weekend, I'm going to sleep in)

Few more examples, if you are talking about someone else: "Tu as encore fait la grasse matinée ?" (Did you sleep in again?) or "Je te connais, tu vas faire la grasse matinée ce week-end" (I know you, you are going to sleep in this week-end.)

Example in a dialogue with audio

Dialogue

Que voulez-vous faire ?

What do you want to do?

Faire la grasse matinée

Make the fat morning​*

Moi aussi !

Me too!

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