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Get prepared to discover everything you have to know about the basic saying “Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué”.
It includes a detailed definition of what it mean and how to use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. But, we also sprinkled super useful stuff like dialogue example, synonyms, slow pronunciation audio and more!
In addition, you will find our others sayings pages on this page and the list of all our French words tutorials on this page. Wishing you a good learning!
Slow pronunciation
Normal pronunciation
The literal meaning is:
It means you shouldn’t use something before being sure you own it. By extension: you shouldn’t claim victory until you are sure that you have won. Even more broadly: you can’t predict the future and you shouldn’t skip the steps.
This saying comes from the middle ages and became popular a few centuries later thanks to Jean de La Fontaine in “L’Ours et les deux Compagnons.” (Book V – Fable 2, 1668)
Imagine someone you know is planning how he/she will spend his/her money after winning the lottery. Then, you can use it as a reminder of not claiming victory too soon: “Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué.” (You shouldn’t sell the bearskin before killing it.)