 |
|
| Share / Tweet / Pin Me! | |
French Proverb
| Meaning | When the cat’s away the mice will play! |
| Literally | When the cat’s not there, the mice dance! |
| Register | normal |
| Pronunciation | |
 |
[ka(n) leu shah nay pah lah lay soo ree da(n)s] |
| IPA | [kã lə ʃa ne pa la le su ʁi dãs] |
Usage notes: French and English have very similar proverbs about a cat, representing an authority figure (parent, teacher, boss), whose absence automatically means that mice (children, students, employees) will do anything (play, dance, leave work early) but what they’re supposed to be doing.
Par exemple…
| J’ai quitté la salle de classe pendant 5 minutes et mes étudiants… oh là là ! Quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent ! | I left the classroom for 5 minutes and my students… oh dear! When the cat’s away, the mice will play! | |
| Mon patron va être à la maison mère cette semaine, et tu sais ce que ça veut dire : quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent ! | My boss is going to be at the parent company this week, and you know what that means: when the cat’s away, the mice will play! |
Variations
- Quand le chat n’est pas là … (anapodoton)
- Absent le chat, les souris dansent
- C’est les vacances, les souris dansent
- Le chat parti, les souris dansent
- Quand le chat s’absente, les souris dansent
- Là où le chat n’est, souris s’y révèle (archaic)
More French expressions with chat
Related lessons
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!
This free website is created with love and a great deal of work. If you love it, please consider making a 
Inverting subjects and verbs is easy enough – vous voyez => voyez-vous, but where do object, adverbial, and reflexive pronouns go? And what about negation? Take a look at this lesson to learn about all the possibilities.
Magnetic poetry is a fun little tool you can use to learn and practice French. 500 magnets with words and parts of words help you to express yourself in a unique and creative way.
There’s no secret recipe for fluency; indeed, it’s difficult to even find consensus on what “fluency” actually means. Is it the ability to have a conversation, or language proficiency equivalent to that of a native speaker?