The French expression “avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez” translates literally to “to have mustard climbing up to the nose”. The idiom is a metaphor for getting angry. Here are some English meanings:
- to lose one’s temper
- to get flared up
- to see red
- to get hot under the collar
A French definition on expressio.fr suggests that the idiom means to get overtaken by impatience with anger winning. “Se mettre en colère” is to get angry in French. The expression is said to date back to the 17th century.
Speed up your learning with an app
Many of our students have greatly enhanced their learning by using an app. On these pages we've examined the top-30 apps for learning French. On this pages we've written comprehensive reviews for Pimsleur (great for people struggling with pronunciation), Rosetta Stone and FrenchPod101 (both great for visual learners).
La moutarde me monte au nez quand je vois des gens qui refuse de suivre les consignes du gouvernement. I get angry when I see people who refuse to follow the government’s recommendations.
French has several more expressions relating to angry:
- être vert de rage – Literally to be green with rage
- s’attirer les foudres de qqn – to incur somebody’s anger
- une bouffée de colère/rage (noun) – a surge of anger
If you've found this post useful you might want to considering looking at our post covering the best apps for learning French. We've looked a total 33 apps and have written comprehensive reviews of Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and FrenchPod101.
- Vouloir Conjugation: Complete Charts To Conjugate “To Want” - May 27, 2022
- 10 Most Famous French Actors Of All Time - May 25, 2022
- 7 Ways To Say What In French + Example Sentences - May 24, 2022
Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho (near Jackson, Wyoming) and have helped hundreds of students to learn French online since 2013.
