What are the English translations of: ''J'en ai perdu mon latin'', ''elle n'avait jamais perdu le Nord'' and the final phrase. i struggle with idioms

Ianhunter L.C1Kwiziq community member

What are the English translations of: ''J'en ai perdu mon latin'', ''elle n'avait jamais perdu le Nord'' and the final phrase. i struggle with idioms

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Ianhunter,

So many idiomatic expressions using 'perdre' in this excellent exercise!

The two you refer to are -

en perdre son latin to be totally confused, not to make head or tail of something

perdre le nord = to lose your bearings ( but in this context 'to lose it')

I hope this helps!

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

J'en ai perdu mon Latin. -- I lost my Latin.
Elle n'avait jamais perdu le nord. -- She never lost her way.

Idioms are what lends color to a language. You just pick them up, trying not to pick them apart too much.

Jim L.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I think we could have done with having those in the vocab at the beginning. Out of context it's impossible to understand that the word being said is "latin" - because, not knowing the colloquialism, it seems completely random !

CélineNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Bonjour Jim,

Thank you for your comment! If you go back to the exercise, you can see that there's a link to a specific vocabulary list: Expressions with perdre, where this expression is listed. Therefore, we have not included "en perdre son latin" in the main vocabulary list located above the exercise.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

What are the English translations of: ''J'en ai perdu mon latin'', ''elle n'avait jamais perdu le Nord'' and the final phrase. i struggle with idioms

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