Hello everyone! Welcome to the new episode of the Français Authentique podcast. Last week, we saw the expression " c'est l'hôpital qui se moque de la charité ", an expression that is really part of our vocabulary as French people and that I think will interest you. If you haven't had the time to listen to the podcast yet, I really recommend you do so when you have a moment. Today's expression is "prendre la rouge dans le sac".
Before you start, think about checking out Johan's free course, " 7 rules for speaking French without getting stuck ". It's a course he set up to help all French learners in their understanding, but also in their expression. So, I really invite you to go and register for the course. If you haven't done so yet, the link is in the description.
Now let's move on to our expression of the day, "to catch red-handed", and we will start by explaining the words in the expression.
First of all, we have the word "take" here, which means to surprise, to catch in the act.
The hand, then, is the part of the body which is used for taking and touching, and which is located at the end of the arm.
“In”, which means inside.
And the bag, which is an accessory used to store personal belongings, like a handbag, for example.
As for the meaning of the expression, then, originally, the expression is based on the image of the thief caught in the act, literally, putting his hand in someone's bag. So, it means to catch someone committing a crime, a bad act, and we use this expression at that time.
I'll give you three examples, three different contexts, so that you can understand the meaning of the expression a little better.
First example: Denis cheated during the exam and got caught red-handed.
So, there, it's very clear, Denis cheated iran whatsapp number data during an exam and he was caught. So, he was caught doing something forbidden, in this case, he was caught cheating, and that's why we use the expression "caught red-handed".
Second example: I caught the employee red-handed, she was stealing money from the cash register.
So, here, it's the same thing, the person was caught committing a fault, and in this case, here, the person was caught stealing money and was caught red-handed.
Third example: The principal caught him red-handed smoking in the school hallway.
So, here, the same, the person was caught doing something forbidden, in this case, was caught smoking in the school hallway. So, that's why we use the expression "caught red-handed".
That's it for the three examples. So, I hope and I suppose that this has allowed you to understand the meaning of the expression a little better, which you will then be able to reuse more easily and fluidly.
Now let's do a little pronunciation exercise. So, I'm going to conjugate the expression in the passé composé, so, first of all in the passive voice, "être pris la main dans le sac", then "se faire prendre la main dans le sac", and I'll let you repeat after me.
And there you have it, the little pronunciation exercise is over. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you enjoyed repeating these sentences in French after me. I'm also done with the explanations of the expression. So, I hope you understood the meaning of the expression and that you can reuse it with your French-speaking friends.
Remember to check out Johan's free course, "7 rules for speaking French without getting stuck ".