Ready to find out everything you need to know about the basic expression "Mettre les points sur les i"? Including a detailed definition of what it is and how to use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. And because we want to help you on your learning journey, we also added some useful informations like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example, synonym and more!
Translation : To make things perfectly clear
Literal meaning : To put the dots over the i's
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IPA : / mɛtʁə le pwɛ̃ syʁ lez- i /
You are copying the super long WiFi code from the router and the last letter is "|". But wait, is it a small "L" or a capital "i"?! You try the first option: failed. You have to type everything again.
What was the problem here? Easy, they just, literally, didn't put the dots over the i's: they were not crystal clear with the instructions.
That's why when someone is being super precise with something, he/she is "putting the dots over the i's" ("Il/elle met les points sur les i")
a.k.a. This person is being so precise that there is no possible confusion.
To be more precise, we can use it in two cases.
The first one being what we explained above, for example, to express: "I had been very precise about it" you can say "J'ai mis les points sur les i".
But there is a second scenario, linked to the first one but more subtle. In the example above "precise" literally refers to precision, but it also works when "precise" is used to say "bossy" or "harsh" or "direct".
For example, if your boss just fired someone harshly and with a "bossy attitude", then you can say "On peut dire qu'il a mis les point sur les i..." (We can say that he put dots over the i's...).
Because once again, there is no debate, no confusion, this guy is fired. Period.
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