Figure-toi

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French Expression

Meaning	guess what, get this, can you imagine, if you can believe it, believe it or not
Literally	imagine
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[fee gur twah]
IPA		[fi gyʁ twa]

Usage notes: Se figurer means “to imagine, picture”:

Par exemple…

Si tu figures que tu vas y réussir …		If you imagine that you’re going to succeed …
Figurez-vous une belle plage.		Picture a beautiful beach.

In the imperative, figure-toi or figurez-vous has an additional, not entirely dissimilar meaning to the above so it’s technically not an idiomatic expression, but it is extremely common and useful. It’s used as a sort of filler to express surprise or mild disbelief:

Il l’a perdu, figure-toi.		He lost it, imagine that/if you can believe that. / Get this, he lost it.
Figurez-vous qu’on ne peut pas y aller ensemble.		Believe it or not, we can’t go together.

Somewhat synonymous: Tu te rends compte – "Can you imagine?!"

 Despite its structural similarity, figure-toi is not equivalent to "go figure," which is essentially an acknowledgment of Murphy’s law (la loi de l’emmerdement maximum). The French translation of "go figure" is allez comprendre.

 Related lessons

• Figurer conjugations
• Reflexive verbs
• Imperative