In today’s lesson we’ll learn one of my favorite French expressions: Ce n’est pas grave, meaning “it’s no big deal”. I learned this expression by ear when I was an exchange student in high school in France and quickly realized that that the French use it all the time.
Ce n’est pas grave
It’s no bid deal
Ce n’est pas grave – It’s no bid deal
Expression origin
In French, the adjective grave means “serious” or “grave”. The modern French word grave comes form gravis in Latin.
Pronunciation
The expression ce n’est pas grave (it’s no big deal) is pronounced: suh nay pah grahv or [sə nɛ pa gʀav].
Example sentences
This first sentence uses the masculine noun problème (problem). This lesson covers seven ways to say “no problem” in French.
Ne t’inquiète pas. Il n’y a pas de problème. Ce n’est pas grave.
Don’t worry. There’s no problem. It’s no big deal.
In French, trouver means “to find”. In the reflexive form and with the prefix re, the verb se retrouver means “to meet up”.
Tu ne viens pas demain ? Écoute, c’est pas grave. On se retourve un autre jour.
You aren’t coming tomorrow? Listen, it’s no big deal. We’ll meet up another day.
This final example sentence uses the verb dire, which means “to say”. This page offers conjugation tables and example sentences for dire.
Pourquoi est-ce que tu dis que ce n’est pas grave? – Moi, je pense que c’est très grave !
Why are you saying it’s no big deal? – I think it’s a very big deal!
Conclusion
Et voilà ! You now know how to say “it’s no big deal” in French – ce n’est pas grave! Now check our our lesson covering the fun French idiom avoir le cafard (literally to have the cockroach), which means to be depressed or down in the dumps.
