Quand les poules auront des dents
A classic French comeback that means one thing: never.
Le Mot - the original
“Quand les poules auront des dents.”
Sens - the meaning
Literally 'When hens have teeth', this is one of France's most famous funny idioms. It means 'never' or 'when pigs fly'. It's the stock answer to an impossible request, so it isn't really a promise: it's a polite, absurd way of saying what you're asking for will never happen.
Décryptage - the breakdown
Vocabulary
- (A1) une poule - a hen
- (A1) une dent - a tooth (note: feminine, even though it ends in -nt)
- (A2) quand - when
- (B1) avoir des dents - to have teeth
- (B1) le futur simple - the simple future tense
Grammar
- (B1) Quand + futur simple: in set French idioms, the clause after 'quand' takes the future: les poules auront - the hens will have. In normal speech you'd often hear 'quand + futur antérieur' (quand il sera rentré), but this fixed expression keeps the futur simple of avoir: auront.
- (A2) The futur simple of 'avoir' is formed regularly: avoir becomes aur- (j'aurai, tu auras, il/elle aura, nous aurons, vous aurez, ils/elles auront).
- (B1) Les poules auront des dents literally joins a plural subject, a future verb and an object to paint an impossible picture: hens + will have + teeth.
Slang & style
- (B2) The whole phrase is a ready-made comeback tossed back at any absurd demand, so it works as a fixed idiom rather than a literal sentence.
Cultural context
- This is a centuries-old French way of saying 'never', documented in dictionaries and literature well before the modern era. It belongs to a family of impossible-imagery idioms (like 'quand les vaches voleront' - when cows will fly) that French speakers use to mock an impossible request without being rude about it.
Why it's funny
- The humor is the sheer absurdity of the image: hens don't have teeth, so promising something 'when hens have teeth' is a polite, deadpan way of promising nothing at all. The more impossible the request, the funnier the comeback lands.
À retenir - takeaways
Tap each card to flip it and check the meaning.
Quick practice
Quick practice
How do you say 'when pigs fly' (the idiom meaning never) in French?