Hello, dear friends! Welcome to this new episode of the Authentic French podcast. And today, we are going to discover a new idiomatic expression together. The expression in question, the expression that I am going to explain to you today, is "être comme un poisson dans l'eau".
Before that, I would like to remind you that you can download for free, you can follow for free the course "7 rules for speaking French without blocking". The link is in the description, it is in fact www.francaisauthentique.com/cours-gratuit . And it is in fact the course that we created in 2011, that we had brought up to date, that we had filmed again in 2014 and that we have just updated in 2023 with everything that Français Authentique has learned over the last 12 years and of course with improved technique, better videos, better images, better sound and better animations. I really invite you, even if you already know the course, to follow the link in the description to follow it again.
That being said, let's talk about the expression "to be like a fish in water". Now, this expression is made up of different words, which we will see.
The verb "être" means "to exist". It is one of the most used and best known verbs in the French language.
"Comme" is a word that indicates a comparison. It means "same as". "Like" means "same as". We use it to compare and to say that two things are similar. For example, if you are at a restaurant and someone says to you: "What are you drinking? I had a coffee", well you say: "I'm going to drink like you". It means: "I'm going to drink a coffee too". "Comme" means "same".
A fish is an animal that lives in water, even underwater. Examples of fish, you can have perch, pike, roach. These are more freshwater fish, which live in rivers and streams. And in the sea, you can have whales, sharks etc.
And water, well it's the aquatic environment. For example, lakes, seas, rivers, all of that is water.Before we see some examples, let me clarify that sometimes we use "se sentir" instead of être. We don't say "être comme un poisson dans l'eau", but "se sentir comme un poisson dans l'eau". It means the same thing. It's just a variation, a little variation. And sometimes we add the adjective "heureux", we say "être heureux comme un poisson dans l'eau". And there, it means that we are happy because we are in our element, because we are as if we were a fish in water, quite simply.
Let's look at some examples that will help you understand even better.
"Marion is a professional dancer. Every time she goes on stage, she is like a fish in water." So here, we are telling you that Marion, who is a dancer, when she dances, she is like a fish in water, that is to say that she is very comfortable, she moves in a fluid way, without making any effort, she is in her element, she is very comfortable in this area. We say that she is like a fish in water. That means that she feels very, very good and she is very comfortable in this element.
Another example: "After moving to Paris, I met a lot of great people and finally found a job that I like. I'm like a fish in water here." Again, in this example, we indicate that we feel good, that we are in a situation, in a field, in an environment, in a place where we feel at home, we are in our element. And to say all that, everything I just said in a few sentences, well we say that we are like a fish in water. We feel as good in Paris as a fish would feel in water.
Last example: "Julien loves to have fun at parties. He's like a fish in water when it comes to partying." So once again, there is no different meaning here, there is no nuance, we say that oman whatsapp number data Julien, he is like a fish in water, when it comes to partying. It means that when he is at a party, he feels good, he is natural, he is in his element, he feels really very comfortable in these situations. And we sum all that up by saying that he is like a fish in water, quite simply.
So in terms of pronunciation, here, there is no particular difficulty. We just encourage you to be careful not to confuse the words "fish", the animal we talked about, and the word "poison". A poison is something that is dangerous for us. If you eat poison or if you eat a plant and we say "it's a poison", it means that this plant will be bad for you. A poison is something that is bad for us. So we must not confuse the words "fish" and the words "poison".
This expression, "to be like a fish in water", dates back to the 17th century, because when we observe a fish that is in the water, we can see that it moves, that it moves very easily, because quite simply water is its natural habitat, it is adapted to its environment. So we understand well that the fish that is in the water, it is at ease. And the expression "to be like a fish in water" means that a person is as at ease in a field to do something as a fish that would be in the water could be. So to be like a fish in water, it simply means to be at ease in a situation or in a field, in a given environment, to feel perfectly in one's place, to be in one's element.