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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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