À l'étage - Lawless French Expression


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French Expression

Meaning	upstairs, downstairs
Literally	on/to the floor (of a multi-story building)
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[ah lay tazh]
IPA		[a le taʒ]

Usage notes: À l’étage is one of those expressions that have more meaning than the words would seem to indicate. Literally, it just means "on the floor," but what it really means is either "upstairs" from where you’re currently standing, or "on the second floor of a two-story building," regardless of whether you’re anywhere near it.

In other words, à l’étage on its own is equivalent to le premier étage, meaning "second floor" to Americans, "first floor" to Brits.

Par exemple…

J’ai oublié mon livre à l’étage.		I forgot my book upstairs.
On va construire un resto avec un appartement à l’étage.		We’re going to build a restaurant with an apartment on the second floor.

However, à l’étage can also mean "downstairs," depending on what else you say with it:

à l’étage du dessus à l’étage au-dessus	upstairs, one floor up	monter à l’étage monter à l’étage supérieur monter à l’étage (number)	to go upstairs to go up one floor to go up to the (__) floor
à l’étage du dessous à l’étage en-dessous	downstairs, one floor down	descendre à l’étage inférieur descendre à l’étage (number)	to go down one floor to go down to the (__) floor