Avoir un coup de pompe is an informal French idiom that translates literally to “to get a hit of the pump” and means “to feel tired all of a sudden”, “to be drained” or “to feel beat”. A French synonym is être soudainement fatigué (to be tired suddenly). The word pompe is also a slang word for “shoe”.
Avoir un coup de pompe
to feel tired all of a sudden, to get a sudden bout of fatigue
Example sentence
Our example sentence uses ça m’arrive, which translates literally to “it/that happens to me”. While jour means “day” in French as in units of days, la journée refers to the duration of a day.
Ça m’arrive d’avoir des coups de pompe quand je passe toute la journée au volant sur l’autoroute.
I get sudden bouts of fatigue wehn I spend the entire day at the wheel on the highway.
French course
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Related lessons
French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson
