This French expression doesn’t mean you’re actually lying in beautiful bedsheets.
Why do I need to know être dans de beaux draps?
This French expression is good to use when you’re in a pickle.
What does it mean?
The expression être dans de beaux draps, roughly pronounced etr dahn duh boh drah (listen here), literally translates to “being in beautiful bedsheets”. In reality, it’s meaning isn’t as glamorous as it means to “be in a difficult situation”, “in trouble” or in a “real mess”.
The adjective beaux (beautiful) is not meant literally here. In fact, it suggests the opposite – you’ve landed yourself in quite a predicament.
One theory traces the expression back to a religious custom from the Middle Ages. At the time, the word drap referred not only to sheets but also to clothing. According to tradition, people who had committed a moral offence – particularly adultery – were required to wear white garments when attending mass.
Although white symbolised purity, in this context it served to expose the sinner publicly. From this association, être dans de beaux draps gradually came to mean finding oneself in an embarrassing or troublesome situation.
Use it like this
Si ma mère découvre ce qu’on a fait, on est dans de beaux draps. – If my mom finds out what we’ve done, we’re in big trouble.
Avec cette erreur administrative, elle est dans de beaux draps. – Because of this administrative mistake, she’s in quite a pickle.
Tu as perdu les clés de la voiture ? Nous voilà dans de beaux draps ! – You’ve lost the car keys? Now we’re really in a bad situation!
