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Informal French Expression
| Meaning | to make a big fuss about it | |
| Literally | to make a whole cheese about it | |
| Register | informal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[ah(n) fehr too too(n) fruh mazh] |
| IPA | [ã fɛʀ tu tœ̃ fʀɔ maʒ] | |
Usage notes: Milk is a very simple product, but turning it into cheese is a big production. Likewise, people sometimes make a big deal about something that is actually very simple. In French, this overreaction is called tout un fromage – literally, "a whole cheese."
Par exemple…
| Arrête, ça ne sert à rien d’en faire tout un fromage. | Stop, there’s no point in making a big fuss about it. | |
| Il en a fait tout un fromage ! | He made a whole song and dance about it! |
The adverbial pronoun en replaces the preposition de + noun, which means that you can leave out en in order to specify the cheesified noun.
Par exemple…
| Ne fais pas tout un fromage de ce contretemps. | Don’t make a big deal about this setback. | |
| Je sais qu’elle va faire tout un fromage de notre dispute. | I know she’s going to make a big stink about our argument. |
Variations
- faire un fromage de (quelque chose)
en faire un fromage
- faire tout un plat de (quelque chose)
en faire tout un plat
- faire tout un plat de fromage de (quelque chose)
en faire tout un plat de fromage
Somewhat synonymous
- Ce n’est pas grave
- Ce n’est pas la fin du monde
- Ce n’est pas la mer à boire
- chercher midi à 14 heures
- faire toute une histoire de (quelque chose)
- (se) faire une montagne d’une taupinière
- se faire une montagne de rien / d’un rien
More French expressions with food
Related lessons
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Is your French as rusty as an old can? Did you live in France years ago or study it in high school—and promptly forget everything upon leaving? The fact is that language ability fades with lack of practice. If you used to know French but haven’t spoken it in years or decades, the bad news is that it probably won’t come rushing back all at once. But the good news is that you can relearn it much more quickly than if you were starting out without that previous knowledge.
N’importe literally means “no matter” or “(it) doesn’t matter.” This indefinite expression can precede an interrogative adjective, adverb, or pronoun when talking about something indefinite or non-specific.