This French expression doesn’t actually mean you’re taking a swim…
Why do I need to know être en nage?
This French expression is good way of describing your state in a heatwave.
What does it mean?
The expression être en nage, roughly pronounced etr ahn nahzh (listen here), translates literally “to be swimming” but it actually means that you are heavily sweating.
A similar expression is être en sueur (sweating), but être en nage involves the image of you practically bathing in your own sweat.
READ ALSO: 10 ways to say you’re sweating in French
This expression has evolved over time. Originally, a nage referred to the act of sailing or rowing, before coming to mean swimming. In the 16th century, être en nage or être à nage meant swimming in water or another liquid.
It gradually took on the figurative meaning of “to be completely wet” and is now used in the more specific sense of “to be drenched in sweat”.
The verb nager also means swimming in the literal sense, but in order to say that you drop the être and the en and conjugate the verb as a standard -er verb. Eg Je nage, je nageais, je vais nager (I swim, I was swimming, I’m going swimming).
Use it like this
Après avoir couru, il était en nage. – After running, he was drenched in sweat.
Je suis en nage avec cette chaleur. – I’m sweating heavily in this heat.
Elle est arrivée en nage après avoir monté les escaliers. – She arrived soaked in sweat after climbing the stairs.
