which has already been explained
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 8:42 am
And if you hear this expression, "to have your feet on the ground", tell yourself that it means that we are talking about someone who is realistic, reasonable, who has a pragmatic mind, who is lucid. It is the complete opposite of someone who would be too emotional or who would let themselves be carried away by fanciful ideas or big dreams. If we have our feet on the ground, well, it is because we are realistic. I think that the term, the closest word, would be that, to be realistic, to be reasonable.
One of the antonyms, an opposite of this expression, would be "to have one's head in the clouds", I think I explained it in my book 301 expressions to speak like the French . To have one's head in the clouds is the opposite. We dream, we are not realistic, we are not reasonable. But if we have our feet on the ground, well we don't have our head in the clouds. It's the opposite.
So we're going to see three examples and you'll immediately understand in these different contexts how we use the expression.
First: "This boy has his feet on the ground. He knows that to succeed in life, you have to work hard." That means that this boy is realistic, he is reasonable, he understands that if you want to get results, if you want to succeed, well, you simply have to work hard. So by saying that he has his feet on the ground, we indicate that he is realistic and reasonable.
Another example: "I'm not going to waste new zealand whatsapp number data my time on an unrealizable project. I'm down to earth." So this person is probably criticizing someone else for not being down to earth, since he says "I'm down to earth," so it really means "I'm down to earth, but you probably aren't." And by saying "I'm down to earth," he's indicating that he's realistic and reasonable and that he doesn't want to waste time on a project that wouldn't be possible to accomplish, a project that would be unrealizable.
Last example: "Sylvie has her feet on the ground. Passionate love doesn't interest her. What she's looking for is a healthy and lasting relationship." So once again, here, when we say that Sylvie has her feet on the ground, well we're saying that she's someone who's realistic, reasonable, she's not looking for dreams or things that she can't achieve, she's looking for things that are reasonable, that are almost... how can I say, almost... because here we're talking about love, so it's a little more complicated, but she doesn't want passion. So she wants something that's healthy, that's lasting, that's realistic, that's reasonable. She's not daydreaming, she's not dreaming.
So here, I think you have now understood the meaning of this expression. You noticed that we have the words "pied" and the word "terre". So the pied, it is pronounced "pié" with a... it is the equivalent of the "e" acute accent, "é", while the word "terre" is pronounced like a grave accent, "è". What I suggest you do to practice your pronunciation is to repeat after me words in "é", then words in "è" and then we will repeat the expression. Here we go. We start with words in "é". You repeat after me by copying my intonation. Here we go.
One of the antonyms, an opposite of this expression, would be "to have one's head in the clouds", I think I explained it in my book 301 expressions to speak like the French . To have one's head in the clouds is the opposite. We dream, we are not realistic, we are not reasonable. But if we have our feet on the ground, well we don't have our head in the clouds. It's the opposite.
So we're going to see three examples and you'll immediately understand in these different contexts how we use the expression.
First: "This boy has his feet on the ground. He knows that to succeed in life, you have to work hard." That means that this boy is realistic, he is reasonable, he understands that if you want to get results, if you want to succeed, well, you simply have to work hard. So by saying that he has his feet on the ground, we indicate that he is realistic and reasonable.
Another example: "I'm not going to waste new zealand whatsapp number data my time on an unrealizable project. I'm down to earth." So this person is probably criticizing someone else for not being down to earth, since he says "I'm down to earth," so it really means "I'm down to earth, but you probably aren't." And by saying "I'm down to earth," he's indicating that he's realistic and reasonable and that he doesn't want to waste time on a project that wouldn't be possible to accomplish, a project that would be unrealizable.
Last example: "Sylvie has her feet on the ground. Passionate love doesn't interest her. What she's looking for is a healthy and lasting relationship." So once again, here, when we say that Sylvie has her feet on the ground, well we're saying that she's someone who's realistic, reasonable, she's not looking for dreams or things that she can't achieve, she's looking for things that are reasonable, that are almost... how can I say, almost... because here we're talking about love, so it's a little more complicated, but she doesn't want passion. So she wants something that's healthy, that's lasting, that's realistic, that's reasonable. She's not daydreaming, she's not dreaming.
So here, I think you have now understood the meaning of this expression. You noticed that we have the words "pied" and the word "terre". So the pied, it is pronounced "pié" with a... it is the equivalent of the "e" acute accent, "é", while the word "terre" is pronounced like a grave accent, "è". What I suggest you do to practice your pronunciation is to repeat after me words in "é", then words in "è" and then we will repeat the expression. Here we go. We start with words in "é". You repeat after me by copying my intonation. Here we go.