Avoir la bouteille is a French idiom that translates directly to “to have some bottle” and means “to have been around a long time”, “to be getting on in years” and “to be long in the tooth”.
avoir de la bouteille
to have been around for a long time, old
Example sentences
This first example sentence makes use of the negation form ne…rien, meaning “anything” or “nothing”.
Il ne faut rien expliquer à Jean : Il a de la bouteille et il sait comment ça marche ici.
There’s no need to explain anything to Jean. He’s been around for a long time and knows how things work here.
This second example sentence uses another idiom connaitre comme sa poche – literally “to know like your pocket”, meaning “to know like the back of your hand”.
Ce chauffeur de taxi a de la bouteille : Il connaît les rues de la ville comme sa poche.
Taxi driver has been around for a long time. He knows the city streets like the back of his hand.
Study resource
Related lessons
French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson
