Informal French Expression
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| Meaning | It’s not that big a deal, it’s not that difficult | |
| Literally | It’s not the sea to drink | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation | [seu neh pah lah meh rah bwar] | |
| IPA | [sə nɛ pa la mɛ ʀa bwaʀ] | |
Usage notes: When someone complains about the impossibility of a task, the French expression ce n’est pas la mer à boire is the answer; you can use it to let that person know that whatever they have to do, it’s not as difficult as drinking the entire sea would be.
Par exemple…
| Je dois tout refaire mais ce n’est pas la mer à boire. | I have to redo everything but it won’t be that difficult. | |
| Ce n’est pas la mer à boire d’aller au boulot en vélo. | It’s not such a big deal to ride my bike to work. | |
| – J’ai trois rapports à écrire en trois jours ! – Allez, arrête, ce n’est pas la mer à boire ! | – I have three reports to write in three days! – Come on, knock it off, it’s not that hard! |
Origin: Tout cela, c’est la mer à boire, Les deux chiens et l’âne mort, by Jean de La Fontaine
Somewhat synonymous
| Ce n’est pas grave | It’s not serious (not a serious problem) | |
| Ce n’est pas la fin du monde | It’s not the end of the world | |
| Ce n’est pas la mort (du petit cheval) | literally, "It’s not the death (of the little horse)" | |
| se faire une montagne d’une taupinière | to make a mountain out of a molehill | |
| se faire une montagne de rien / d’un rien | to make a mountain out of a molehill (literally, “to make a mountain out of nothing”) |
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