Structures idiomatiques - cours

Eh, quoi de neuf docteur?  

 Hi, what's up?
  I don't mean 'what's up' ( qu'y a-t-il en haut ?). 'What's up' is an idiom. That's an expression where the words
 what, is, up do not have a precise meaning. Instead 'what's up' is a greeting, thence feeling. You are friendly
 with somebody, you want to know what they are doing, so we say: 'What's up?'.

 Now let's learn some other idioms that you can use to make your English more colourful.
         Our first idiom is: 'As easy as pie'. That just means something very, very easy or easier than it looks.
   For example you might say: I can do that it is as easy as pie. But don't say something like:
 'walking is as easy as pie'. Of course walking is easy but that's too obvious. You want to use 'as easy as pie'
 when something is a little bit difficult or seems difficult but you can do it. So it  shows you have confidence it shows  your feeling.

  Two idioms similar to 'it's as easy as pie' are: 'It's a piece of cake' or 'It's as easy as ABC'.
          Our second idiom is: 'To be all ears'. Of course somebody cannot have 'all ears' completely but that means
 they are listening carefully. So, if you are very interested in somebody's idea, so: 'go ahead and talk, I'm all ears'.
          Our third idiom is: 'To be chicken'. Of course a person cannot be a chicken, but if you are a chicken or just
 chicken then that means you are afraid. And we often use this when somebody doesn't want to do something.
 Oh, you are a chicken or don't be chicken. Sometimes we don't say it, we say  pa,pa,pa,pa,pa. And then they know
 that we think they are afraid.

         When you are learning idioms you should be all ears, listen carefully and then practise. Don't be chicken,
 just go and try, it's as easy as pie.