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Familiar French Expression
| Meaning | to talk, spill the beans, come clean | |
| Literally | to eat the piece | |
| Register | familiar | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[ma(n) zhay leu muhr so] |
| IPA | [mã ʒe lə mɔʁ so] | |
Usage notes: The French expression manger le morceau is a little weird, using the idea of eating/swallowing something to indicate movement in the opposite direction. Unless maybe the morceau is meant to be a piece of some sort of truth serum. The variations seem more logical:
- casser le morceau – literally, "to break the piece"
- cracher le morceau – "to spit (out) the piece"
- lâcher le morceau – “to let go of the piece”
Par exemple…
| Il ne voulait pas me dire ce qui s’était passé, mais il a enfin mangé le morceau. | He didn’t want to tell me what happened, but he finally came clean. | |
| Allez, dites-moi la vérité, mangez le morceau ! | Come on, tell me the truth, spill the beans! |
Be sure to use the definite article, as the indefinite changes the meaning completely: manger un morceau – “to have a bite to eat.”
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Learn how to translate French infinitives, imperatives, and participles into English.
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.