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Informal French Expression
| Meaning | it’s free, it’s on the house | |
| Literally | it’s gift | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[say kah doh] |
| IPA | [se ka do] | |
Usage notes: The French expression c’est cadeau indicates that something is a gift, but not a personal one. Rather, it’s something that a store or restaurant is giving you – what is often redundantly called “a free gift.”
Par exemple…
| Achetez deux croissants, et le café, c’est cadeau ! | Buy two croissants and the coffee’s on the house! | |
| En Californie, voter c’est cadeau. (Liberátion, le 4 nov 2008) |
In California, voting gets you a free gift. |
Note the lack of an article in c’est cadeau, which has a slightly different meaning than c’est un cadeau.
- C’est cadeau means that a business is giving you something for free.
- C’est un cadeau means that someone you (probably) know – a friend, a family member – is giving you a gift.
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