When you are communicating in a foreign language, idioms are a real challenge. An idiom is a natural, everyday way of speaking one’s native language.  The native speaker understands exactly what you mean.  The foreign speaker is a bit baffled.   There are simply thousands of idioms in the English language.

Idioms  are a combination of words that have a figurative meaning owing to its common usage. An idiom’s figurative meaning is separate from the literal meaning. There are thousands of idioms and they occur frequently in all languages. According to Wikipedia, there are estimated to be at least thirty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language.

An idiom is “An expression that doesn’t necessarily have a definition but more of an understanding behind it.”, as defined by the Urban Dictionary.

common love and romance English idioms:

“on the rocks”

– to be in a state of difficulty, to be having problems (usually used for a relationship)

“pop the question”

– to ask someone to marry you

“puppy love”

– strong feelings of love (infatuation) between school-age children or teenagers

“those three little words”

– the three words “I love you”

What does “go Dutch” mean?

a)  Wear clogs
b)  Go on a date and the couple share the expenses of a meal
c)  Fly KLM, the Dutch airline

There are many other idioms about love and romance, and there’s lots more to learn about idioms because they are so much a part of everyday speech!

Answer to ‘go Dutch’ idiom is ….

b)