Faire d’une pierre deux coups

Faire d'une pierre deux coups
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French Proverb

Meaning to kill two birds with one stone
Literally to strike twice with one stone, to do two jobs with one stone
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Pronunciation French sound files [fehr dun pyehr deu koo]
IPA   [fɛʁ dyn pjɛʁ dø ku]

Usage notes: Faire d’une pierre deux coups always makes me think of skipping stones, but of course a good stone will skip more than just twice. In any case, the stone in this French proverb and its English equivalent isn’t just bouncing across water; it’s performing two tasks that would normally take two separate "stones" to accomplish. It’s about efficiency and getting things done.

Par exemple…

Tu dois aller à la banque ? Moi aussi – viens avec moi et on peut faire d’une pierre deux coups.   You need to go to the bank? Me too – come with me and we can kill two birds with one stone.
Fais d’une pierre deux coups : si tu ranges ta chambre, tu trouveras ta raquette de tennis.   Kill two birds with one stone: if you clean your room, you’ll find your tennis racket.

Synonymous expression

  • faire coup double
    In hunting, faire coup double means "to do a right and left"

Related expressions

  • un fusil à deux coups – double-barreled rifle
  • faire un coup (informal) – to pull off an illegal job

 Related lessons

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Faire d'une pierre deux coups

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