Skip to Content

Avoir le couteau sous la gorge

Avoir le couteau sous la gorge

Avoir le couteau sous la gorge is a French idiom that literally to “to have a knife under the throat” and means “to be under the gun”.

Avoir le couteau sous la gorge

to be under the gun

Avoir le couteau sous la gorge - to be under the gun

Example sentence

For the example sentence, I used the translation “to be under a lot of pressure”. Interestingly, the verb subvenir means to support, provide for or “meet the needs of”. The verb supporter means “to put up with” or “to tolerate”.

Pierre a certainement le couteau sous le gorge en ce moment. Il doit avoir assez d’argent pour subvenir aux besoins de sa famille et payer ses dettes.

Pierre is definitely under pressure now. He needs to have enough money to support his family and pay his debts.

Related lessons

French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson

author avatar
David Issokson
David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

Sharing is caring!

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

See all posts by