Avoir du chien

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Informal French Expression

Meaning	to be desirable, to have a certain something, to be a fox
Literally	to have some dog
Register	informal
Pronunciation		[ah vwahr du shyeh(n)]
IPA		[a vwaʁ dy ʃʝɛ̃]

Usage notes: Lots of people have a dog, but what does having "some" dog mean? If you think it’s like "to be a dog," you couldn’t be more wrong.*

The somewhat dated French expression avoir du chien, which is used only to describe women, means just the opposite: "to be desirable." It’s similar to the English expression "to be a fox" but avoir du chien is about more than just physical appearance; it also denotes desirable qualities like intelligence and independence.

Par exemple…

Penses-tu que Catherine Deneuve et Jeanne Moreau aient toujours du chien ?

Do you think Catherine Deneuve and Jeanne Moreau are still desirable?

Somewhat synonymous

• être beau – to be handsome/beautiful (il est beau, elle est belle)
• être chic – to be classy, stylish (il est chic, elle est chic)
• être joli – to be good-looking/pretty (il est joli, elle est jolie)
• être mignon – to be cute (il est mignon, elle est mignonne)
   
  informal
• être canon – to be gorgeous (il est canon, elle est canon)
• être chaud – to be hot/sexy/horny (il est chaud, elle est chaude)

* To be a dog (to be really ugly) = être un boudin (informal), être un cageot (familiar)

 More French expressions with chien

Related lessons

• Avoir conjugations
• Du and other partitive articles

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