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The French expression "Je ne suis pas dans mon assiette"

You are in the right place to learn all the things you want to know about the basic French expression “Je ne suis pas dans mon assiette”.

Including a complete guide of what it mean and how to use it in a dialogue with an audio example. Together with the useful things we sprinkled like dialogue example, literal meaning, slow pronunciation audio and more!

Oh and on this page you will find our others expressions guides plus the ultimate directory of all our French words pages on this page. Wishing you a good learning!

French to English

Pronunciation example

Slow pronunciation

Normal pronunciation

What does it mean?

Definition

Je ne suis pas → I am not
Dans → In
Mon assiette → My plate

What’s the link between not feeling well and a plate?

“Assiette” (Plate) comes from the word “Asseoir” (To sit) then “Ne pas être dans son assiette” (To not be in one’s plate) in an image for being unable to “sit comfortably“.

When it happens it’s causing pain and fatigue, making you “not feeling well“.

So if we extended what this expression really means, it would be: “I’m not in my normal disposition and that makes me feel bad.“

How to use it

You can use it to talk about how you feel: “Je m’en vais, je ne suis pas dans mon assiette aujourd’hui.” (I’m leaving, I don’t feel well today.)

Or to ask someone about how he/she feels: “Tu vas bien ? Tu n’as pas l’air dans ton assiette.” (Are you ok? You don’t seem to be in your plate.)

Synonyms

Ne pas avoir l’air dans son assiette. (“To not seems in one’s plate“)
Ne pas se sentir bien. (“To not feel good“)
Elle n’est pas dans son assiette. (“She is not in her plate“)
Il n’est pas dans son assiette. (“He is not in his plate“)

Example in a story with translation

Now, let’s see a complete example of this idiom in a story with slow French audio and the English translation below.

Un régime extrême

Extreme diet

___

Théo et Olivia marchent dans la rue.

Théo and Olivia are walking down the street.

Olivia: Je ne sais pas ce qu’il m’arrive…
je ne suis pas dans mon assietteLiterally: I’m not in my plate
.

I don’t know what’s happening to me… I don’t feel good

Théo: Où as-tu mal ?

Where does it hurt?

Olivia: Ma tête me fait vraiment mal et mon estomac aussi.

My head really hurts and so does my stomach.

Théo: C’est bizarre. Assieds-toi sur ce banc.

This is weird. Sit on this bench.

Ils s’assoient…

They sit down…

Théo: Peut-être que c’est une intoxication alimentaire ou quelque chose comme ça ?

Maybe it’s food poisoning or something?

Olivia: Non, ça ne peut pas être ça. Je n’ai rien mangé de nouveau…

No, it can’t be that. I didn’t eat anything new…