Avoir un coeur d’artichaut is a fun French expression which translates literally to “to have an artichoke heart” and means “to fall in love with everyone you meet”.
Avoir un cœur d’artichaut
to fall in love with everyone you meet
Example sentence
Géralde a un cœur d’artichaut. Il change de petite amie tout le temps et sa vie devient de plus en plus compliquée.
Geralde falls in love with everybody he meets. He changes girlfriends all the time and his life is becoming increasingly complicated.
Origin
This idiom has is origins in the late-19th century proverb, “cœur d’artichaut, une feuille pour tout le monde“, which translates to: “Artichoke heart, one leaf for everybody.” The idea behind the expression is that by the time you’re done peeling off each artichoke leaf, you’ve given one to everybody you love.
Related lessons
- Coup de foudre – love at first sight
- Avoir le cœur sur la main – to have a heart of gold
- Je t’aime – I love you
- Valentine’s Day In France: vocabulary, phrases
French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson
