“Mettre quelqu’un en boîte” is a fun little French expression that translates literally to “to put somebody in a can”. The word “boîte” can translate to both can and box. Here are several English meanings:
- to make fun of somebody
- to pull somebody’s leg
- to josh somebody
- to have a good laugh at somebody
Expressio.fr offers a very simple definition in French: “to make fun of somebody, particularly his or her naivety and gullibility.
Here’s an example sentence:
- Je crois tous ce qu’on me raconte. Je suis très naïf. On me met en boite tout le temps. I believe everything people tell me. I’m very gullible. People pull my leg all the time.
There lots of synonymous verbs and expressions:
- se payer la tete de qqn – Literally to buy yourself somebody’s head
- taquiner – to tease
- se moquer de qqn – to tease somebody
- faire marcher qqn – to tease somebody
Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho and have helped hundreds of students to learn French via Skype or Zoom since 2014. 
