C’est reparti comme en quarante is a French idiom that translates literally to “it’s started again like in the year 1940”. The English meaning is “Here we go again!”. A French translation is recommencer avec ardeur et naïveté (to start again with enthusiasm and innocence).
C’est reparti comme en quarante
Here we go again!
Example sentence
Jean et Marie étaient séparés depuis deux ans. Mais, c’est reparti comme en quarante. Ils sont ensemble de nouveau.
Jean and Marie were separated for two years. But, here we go again! They’re back together.
Explantions
- Étaient is the third-person plural (ils/elles) form of être (to be) in the imperfect tense.
- Depuis means “since” but can also translate to “for” as in “for an amount of time”.
- An means “year” as in the unit of time. This lesson explains an vs. année, which both mean year.
- De nouveau can translate to once again, once more and again. The related adverb encore means again, still and yet.
Origin
This expression refers to World War II starting in the 1940. A related expression is c’est reporti comme en quatorze (14), referring to World War I .
Related lessons
- 3 Sentences Using The Expression “C’est parti!”
- Partir Conjugation: How To Conjugate “To Leave” In French
- How To Say The Year In French
Word of the day and expressions archive | Lessons by David Issokson
