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Living French Phrases
The French verb vivre, “to live,” is found in many idiomatic expressions, including to live hand to mouth, to keep someone going, and to pay the bills. Learn these and dozens of other French expressions featuring vivre.
Vivre translations
- to live
- to be alive
- to spend (one’s days)
Proverbs with vivre
L’espoir fait vivre. | Where there’s life, there’s hope. | |
L’homme ne vit pas seulement de pain. | Man shall not live by bread alone. | |
Il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger. | You have to eat to live, not live to eat. | |
Qui vivra verra. | What will be will be. |
Expressions with vivre
vivre au jour le jour | to live from hand to mouth | ||
vivre aux crochets de quelqu’un | (informal) | to live/sponge off someone | |
vivre avec quelqu’un | to live with someone | ||
vivre avec son époque | to move with the times | ||
vivre avec son temps | to move with the times | ||
vivre bien | to live well | ||
vivre centenaire | to live to be 100 | ||
vivre comme mari et femme | to live as husband and wife | ||
vivre d’amour et d’eau fraîche | to live on love alone, to live a carefree life | ||
vivre dangereusement | to live dangerously | ||
vivre dans la crainte | to live in fear | ||
vivre dans la précarité | to live from hand to mouth | ||
vivre dans les livres | to live in books | ||
vivre dans le passé | to live in the past | ||
vivre de | to live on, make a living from | ||
vivre de l’air du temps | to live on air | ||
vivre des temps troublés | to live in troubled times | ||
vivre en paix (avec soi-même) | to be at peace (with oneself) | ||
vivre largement | to live well | ||
vivre le présent | to live for the present | ||
vivre l’instant | to live for the moment | ||
vivre mal quelque chose | to have a hard time of something | ||
vivre que pour quelque chose | to live for something | ||
vivre sa foi | to live out one’s faith | ||
vivre sa vie | to live one’s own life | ||
vivre son art | to live out one’s art | ||
vivre sur sa réputation | to get by on the strength of one’s reputation | ||
vivre une période de crise | to be going through a period of crisis | ||
vivre vieux | to live to a ripe old age |
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l’art de vivre | way of life | ||
avoir (juste) de quoi vivre | to have (just) enough to live on | ||
Ça lui apprendra à vivre | That’ll straighten him out. | ||
être difficile à vivre | to be difficult to live with | ||
être facile à vivre | to be easy to live with | ||
faire vivre quelqu’un | to support someone, keep someone going | ||
Il fait bon vivre. | It’s good to be alive. | ||
Il faut bien vivre ! | You have to live! | ||
Il me fait vivre. | It pays the bills, It’s a living. | ||
Il vit un beau roman d’amour. | His life is a love story come true. | ||
Je vais lui apprendre à vivre. | I’ll teach him a thing or two. | ||
la joie de vivre | joy of life | ||
Laissez-les vivre ! | Let them be! | ||
le mal de vivre | great discontentment | ||
On ne voyait âme qui vive. | There wasn’t a living soul to be seen. | ||
Qui vive ? | Who goes there? | ||
la raison de vivre | reason for living | ||
savoir vivre | to know how to make the most of life to have good manners, know how to behave |
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le savoir-vivre | good manners |
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se laisser vivre | to live for the day, to take life as it comes | ||
travailler pour vivre | to work for a living |
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le vivre et le couvert | bed and board | ||
le vivre et le logement | room and board | ||
___ a vécu. | ___ is over, is a thing of the past, has had its day. | ||
Vive … ! | Long live …! Hurrah for …! | ||
Vive la différence ! | Hurray for differences! | ||
Vive la France ! | Long live France! |
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Vive la liberté ! | Hurray for freedom! | ||
Vive la République ! | Long live the Republic! |
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les vivres | supplies, provisions | ||
couper les vivres à quelqu’un | to cut off someone’s means of subsistence | ||
être sur le qui-vive | to be on the alert |
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la vie | life | ||
C’est la vie ! | That’s life! | ||
La vie ne vaut pas la peine d’être vécue. | Life isn’t worth living. | ||
vivant | (adjective) | living, alive, lively | |
de son vivant | in his/her lifetime | ||
la vive-eau | spring tide | ||
vivement | (adverb) | brusquely, sharply |
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