C’est cadeau

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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, whereas c’est un cadeau means that someone you (probably) know – a friend, a family member – is giving you a gift.

 Related lessons

• C’est
• Être conjugations