Plans, shocks and fainting.
Tomber à l’eau means to fall through: « le projet est tombé à l’eau » — the project collapsed. It is the standard way to report a plan that came to nothing.
Tomber des nues means to be utterly astonished, and tomber dans les pommes — to fall into the apples — means to faint. That last one is pure idiom with no logic behind it, and it is used constantly.
💡 Focus at this level: Idiomatic — tomber à l’eau
1. « Tomber à l’eau » for failed plans.
2. « Tomber dans les pommes » = to faint. Informal but universal.
3. « Laisser tomber » cross-refers to the laisser chart — same image.
Play the free French games → · Back to the full « tomber » chart →