If you travel to France you’ll inevitably hear an expression that almost never appears in the textbooks: En avoir marre. The translations of this expression are “to be fed up”, “to be sick of” and “to have had it”. This post will explore the expression en avoir marre in detail.
J’en ai marre !
I’m fed up !
En avoir marre
The expression en avoir marre de can be followed by a thing or person. Here’s an example:
J’en ai marre de ces gens. Ils m’énervent.
I’m fed up with (sick of) these people. They’re bothering me.
As seen above, j’en ai marre can be used as a stand-alone exclamation. Here are two examples:
Ça fait une heure qu’on fait la queue. J’en ai marre !
We’ve been waiting in line for an hour. I’ve had it!
Si tu en as marre, rentre chez toi !
Go home if you’ve had enough!
In the following example en avoir marre de is followed by a noun.
J’en ai marre de cette pluie et j’ai envie de sortir.
I’m sick of this rain and I want to go out.
En avoir assez
In French, the expression en avoir assez is synonymous to en avoir marre, but comes across as softer or a bit less harsh. The word assez translates to “enough”.
J’en ai assez de vos commentaires. Taisez-vous pour une fois !
I’ve had enough of your comments. Shut up for once!
Conclusion
Et voilà ! Now you have a firm grasp of the French expression en avoir marre. Now check out our post on the verb se débrouiller (to get by, to manage). Similar to en avoir marre, this verb is commonly heard in France but rarely appears in the textbooks.
