French Expressions Using The Verb Tirer - to Pull, Draw, Shoot...
The French verb tirer literally means "to pull" and is also used in many idiomatic expressions.
Watch out - TIRer (to pull) should not be mistaken with trier (TRIer - to sort), nor should their derived nouns: "le tir" (shooting) and "le tri" (sorting)...
Tirer has many meanings in French - the most important one being to draw, to pull, to tug, to pull down/up/out… all these are rather easy to understand.
But the surprise for students is that tirer also means to shoot at someone with a weapon.
Se tirer is a very common slang expression meaning to get the heck out of there.
Allez, on se tire - C’mon, let’s get out of here.
Watch out that tirer can also have a sexual meaning. It comes from the vulgar expression “tirer un coup” (to have a shag), but tirer can also be used alone to mean to have sex.
Here is a list of French expressions and idioms using tirer
Tirer sur quelqu'un = to shoot on someone.
Quand il l’a vu, il lui a tiré dessus.
When he saw him, he shot at him.
Tirer dans les jambes/pattes de quelqu'un (informal) = to make someone's life difficult
Mon boss ne m’aime pas et il me tire dans les pattes.
My boss doesn’t like me and he makes my life difficult.
Tirer de l'argent au distributeur = to get money from a ATM
Je passe à la banque, je dois tirer de l’argent.
I am going by the bank, I must draw money from the ATM.
Tirer les cartes à quelqu'un = to read someone's cards/future
La gitane m’a tiré les cartes.
The gypsy woman read my cards/future.
tirer à X copies/numéros = to print X copies/issues
Ce journal est tiré à un million d’exemplaires.
A million copies of this newspaper are printed.
Tirer le verrou = to bolt
Ferme la porte et tire le verrou!
Close the door and bolt it!
Tirer à sa fin (formal) = to be drawing to a close, to be nearly over
Notre voyage tire à sa fin.
Our trip is coming to an end.
Tirer quelque chose au sort = to draw lots for something
Tu ne sais pas qui choisir? Alors on tire au sort.
You don’t know who to choose? Then we draw lots for it.
Tirer à la courte paille = to draw straws
Ils ont fini par tirer à la courte paille.
They ended up drawing straws.
Tirer quelqu'un (de prison, d'une situation, du lit…) to get someone out of (prison, a situation, bed)
Il m'a tirée du lit à 5 h du matin.
He drew me out of bed at 5AM.
Tirer sur la corde (informal) to push one's luck
Tu as déjà eu un cadeau, ne tire pas trop sur la corde.
You already had one gift, don’t push your luck.
Se faire tirer le portrait (informal and a bit old-fashioned) = to have one's picture taken
J’ai besoin de me faire tirer le portrait pour ma carte d’identité.
I need to get a picture for my ID.
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