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Le travail at C1 — idioms of the grind

« le travail » — jump to your level:A1A2B1B2C1C2Native

How natives really talk about work — the idioms.

📓 Expressions du boulot

1🔊

to work (colloq.)

2🔊

to earn a living

3🔊

to top up one’s income

4🔊

to have a lot on one’s plate

5🔊

to work flat out

6🔊

to be swamped

7🔊

a job (slang)

8🔊

to make ends meet

9🔊

to climb the ladder

10🔊

to work oneself to death

🔊 Example sentences

J’ai du pain sur la planche cette semaine.I’ve got a lot on my plate this week.
Elle travaille d’arrache-pied.She’s working flat out.
On n’arrive pas à joindre les deux bouts.We can’t make ends meet.

💡 Your C1 goal

At C1 you’re refining style: choosing between correct options for tone and precision. Notice how native writers and speakers deploy this, and imitate deliberately.

Feeling shaky? Step back to Le Travail at B2. Comfortable? Level up to Le Travail at C2.

Il a gravi tous les échelons.He climbed the whole ladder.

✍️ Practice

J’ai du pain sur la ___ . (a lot to do) (idiome)

Show answer

planche

Je suis ___ , je te rappelle. (swamped) (débordé)

Show answer

débordé

Gravir les ___ . (career ladder) (idiome)

Show answer

échelons

🎮 Practise

🃏 Memory match pair FR ↔ EN

🎮 Practise this with games

🎮 Practise

🧩 Sentence builder put the words in order

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