Everything about the French idiom "Laisse tomber"

We are going to show you all the things you ever wanted to know about the basic idiom “Laisse tomber”.

Including a full guide of what it is and how you can use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. As well as the useful stuff we added like dialogue example, synonym, slow pronunciation audio and more!

In case you are interested, on this page you will find more of these idioms explained and the ultimate directory of all our French words pages on this page. Happy learning!

Table of Contents

Artboard 1
Artboard 1
Artboard 1
Showcase of this quote from our Instagram account
Daily posts like this on Instagram → @all.french

French to English

How to pronounce it?

Slow pronunciation

Normal pronunciation

Laisse tomber meaning

Definition

“Laisse tomber” is a very common interjection that literally means “Drop it“. We use it when we want to express that something was not really important, and that it’s better to forget about it.

It’s very similar to “Never mind” in English and the metaphor of “dropping it” is a way to say “drop it out of your brain so you will stop thinking about it“.

How to use it

We typically use it right after something that we regret saying, or because we made a mistake. Few examples:

  • Je crois que je t’aime… enfin je veux dire… laisse tomber. → I think I love you… I mean… never mind
  • Je vais aller courir. Ah non, laisse tomber, j’ai un rendez-vous. → I’m going to run. Oh wait, never mind, I have an appointment.

Do not confuse the standalone use of “Laisse tomber” as an interjection with its usage in a sentence: “Laisser tomber quelqu’un” because in this case it means “To let someone down“.

For example: “Il m’a laissé tomber” (He let me down)

Fun facts

A typical teenager cliché example: “Laisse tomber. Tu ne me comprends jamais de toute façon” which means “Never mind. You never understand me anyway.

Synonyms

  • Laisse béton → Never mind (Slang)
  • Oublie → Forget (it)
  • Tant pis → Never mind
  • Peu importe → It doesn’t matter
  • Qu’importe → It doesn’t matter (Formal)
  • Ça ne fait rien → It doesn’t matter
  • N’y pense plus → Forget about it (Literally: stop thinking about it)
  • J’ai rien dit→ Forget what I said (Literally: I didn’t say anything)

Audio dialogue example

Audio dialogue by French natives

Dialogue audio

Dialogue script

” Give me a hug “
” Don’t even think about it! “
” Ok, laisse tomber… “
” Ok, never mind… “
Showcase of this dialogue from our Pinterest account
More pins like this on Pinterest → @allbfrench