Hello everyone! I hope everything is going well for you. I welcome you to this new podcast episode of Français Authentique, the podcast in which we discover together the meaning of a French idiomatic expression. Last week, we saw the meaning of the expression " birds of a feather flock together ". Don't hesitate to go listen to it when you have a little time.
Before that, also think about registering, if you haven't already, for Johan's free course " 7 rules for speaking French without getting stuck ". It's a course that will really allow you to get into learning French and above all help you combine both understanding the language and expressing yourself because, yes, it's not just about understanding, you also need to be able to express yourself.
Today, we are going to see the meaning of the expression "n'y voir que du feu". Let's start with the explanation of the words.
“Ne… que” means “only”, “solely”. It expresses a restriction.
"To see" is a verb that means to perceive something with the eyes, by sight.
And finally, fire is a natural element that produces heat but also light.
As for the meaning of the expression, well, originally, there are several explanations for this expression that dates back to the 18th century. The first refers to a physical phenomenon. When iraq whatsapp number data we look at a bright light source like fire for a few seconds, our vision is altered, we no longer see anything in fact. According to Le Littré, the expression is based on the formula "to see 36 candles". It would illustrate the dazzling sensation that we feel after a violent blow to the head and which would prevent us from seeing correctly. So, this expression means not to notice anything, not to notice anything when there is indeed deception.
I will give you three examples, three different contexts so that you can better understand the meaning of the expression.
First example: "My mother was fooled by the saleswoman. She lied about the quality of the item and my mother didn't notice a thing." So, here, we see that the person's mother was fooled. She didn't notice anything while the saleswoman deceived her. So, that's why we say that she didn't notice a thing, that is to say that she didn't notice anything.
Second example: "The magic trick was incredible. We didn't see anything." So, here, we mean that we didn't notice anything during the magic trick. It was incredible, we saw absolutely nothing, noticed nothing.
And finally, third example: "My husband said he was going on a business trip when he was actually going to see his mistress. During all these years, I didn't see anything." So, here, we see that the person didn't notice anything for years, she didn't notice anything from her husband, she didn't see anything, when in fact there was deception. So, that's why here we use the expression "n'y voir que du feu."
Now let's move on to a little pronunciation exercise. So, I'm going to conjugate the expression in the passé composé. And I remind you that the word order with a verb in the passé composé is as follows: subject + ni, donc, for this expression, + auxiliary + past participle + "que" of the expression and "du feu". So, here we go! I'm going to pronounce the expression conjugated in the passé composé and I'll give you time to repeat after me.