In today’s lesson we’ll learn the French expression figure-toi, which has many translations including “Guess what?” and “Would you believe it?”. Figure-toi qu’on a une super leçon aujourd’hui! (Guess what? We have a great lesson today!).
Figure-toi
guess what, would you believe it
Figure-toi que
Expression explanation
The expression figure-toi is the imperative form of the reflexive verb se figurer, which means “imagine”. Hence, figure-toi que translates literally to “imagine that”. The expression has formal and informal forms:
Figure-toi que, figurez-vous que
Example sentences
For this first sentence, j’ai pu is first-person singular form the passé composé of the the verb pouvoir (can, to be able).
Figure-toi que j’ai pu apprendre tous les mots de vocabulaire!
Guess what? I was able to learn all the vocabulary words!
In this second sentence, que tu cherchais (that you were looking for) is an example of the imperfect tense, which is used to describe ongoing actions.
Figure-toi que j’ai trouvé le livre que tu cherchais.
Guess what? I foud the book you were looking for.
For this final sentence, croiser means “to bump into by chance”. I could have also used the verb rencontrer.
Figurez-vous que j’ai croisé Sophie à la boulangerie ce matin.
Would you believe it? I bumpted into Sophie at the bakery this morning.
More useful expressions
- Fais gaffe ! Watch out! Be careful!
- Ce n’est pas grave ! It’s no big deal!
- Pisser dans un violon – to waste your breath
French expressions | Lessons by David Issokson
