Colloquial expression - translation please

[Hereford]

Bearing in mind that not everything can be translated word for word (lots of things in fact!) could some kind person offer a French phrase for the following please:

"He is at the end of his tether and is unable to cope any more"  (context: caring for someone with dementia 24 hours a day)

Note: I thought I had posted this just now but it did not appear so I hope it is not in twice.

many thanks,  Mrs H

[YCCMB]

Something like "Il est au bout du rouleau et il n'en peut plus..." I guess.

[idun]

Il est au bout de force, il n'en peut plus.

 

 

There are lots of these little expressions.

[NormanH]

Il est à bout de nerfs... il craque...?

(I agree with the others, this is just an alternative )

[5-element]

I'll go with Betty for the closest translation.

[Hereford]

Many thanks.

[FairyNuff]

Another one :

I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

I've been puzzling over this one, an approximate translation sounds just wrong!

Thanks

Fairynuff

[YCCMB]

To bite off more than one can chew....possibly Qui trop embrasse mal étreint...

I've gone into italics and I can't get out again!!

I've also seen "avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre"...but that's strictly "to have eyes bigger than your stomach"..

I'm off to see if I can detach myself from the italics.

ETA: Well, that's bizarre. In the box where I'm typing this, it's changed into italics halfway through the first sentence. When I post, it's in normal font..[8-)]

[NormanH]

voir un peu trop grand

s'attaquer à un trop gros morceau

more freely

vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué (but that's more like counting chickens before they are hatched)

Again just adding alternatives.

[Christine Animal]

avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre.

 

[NormanH]

Both Betty and Christine have come up with 'avoir les yeux plus gros que la ventre', but I am not sure I have ever heard that used in a metaphorical sense, just in the situation of having taken too much food and being unable to finish it.

I am open to correction of course.

[Christine Animal]

Correction coming then!   [:D]

Plus géneralement :
Voir trop grand, exagérer ses capacités     http://www.expressio.fr/expressions/avoir-les-yeux-plus-gros-que-le-ventre.php

Au sens figuré, l'expression signifie également que l'on se surestime. 

http://www.linternaute.com/expression/langue-francaise/380/avoir-les-yeux-plus-gros-que-le-ventre/

 

Sorry Betty, I missed that you had already mentioned it.

 

[allanb]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]To bite off more than one can chew....

I've also seen "avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre"... [/quote]

FWIW, this is supported by the big Robert-Collins dictionary.  It also gives "viser trop haut" but that doesn't seem quite as forceful.

By the way I also had some trouble with italics while quoting you in this reply.

ETA: like you, I found that some of the italics (but not all) changed back to normal type when I posted.  Fortunately there are more important things in life than italics.

[FairyNuff]

Just to say thanks to everyone for their input, bonne soirée,

FairyNuff

[YCCMB]

No probs. Mrs Animal..it's good to have someone else say the same thing - either we're both wrong, or there's some credence to what we've said.

Norman, as I said, I have heard it used in the metaphorical sense, which was why I mentioned it..although I did qualify my original post by saying that the literal meaning was quite different: partly because having heard it used in this quite different way was something that struck me at the time.

It's odd how these little phrases are so tough to work with (or around). Last summer, I was chatting to a friend and said that someone "s'était plié en deux" to help me. I'd just sort of assumed from "bending over backwards" or a similar expression, I guess, that this was logical. She explained that if you're going out of your way to help, then in fact you have to plie en quatre, and that you plie en deux when something is really funny. Then she mused that she'd never actually thought about it before, but that now I'd sort of raised the point, she had no idea either why it should be so....

Hey ho!

[YCCMB]

[quote user="allanb"]  Fortunately there are more important things in life than italics.

[/quote]

Indeed. Mine have got better now...[:D]

[Christine Animal]

Yes "se plier en deux", to kill yourself laughing.

It also seems to be "se mettre en quatre" to kill yourself doing something for someone which was as difficult as bending into four parts! 

http://www.linternaute.com/expression/langue-francaise/554/se-mettre-en-quatre/

 or something like that.   [Www]

 

or maybe "se plier en deux" is in pain and "être plié en deux" is laughing (se tordre de rire).  Hmmm.

 

 

[NormanH]

I had heard both the 'plier' expressions, but never really noticed the difference before, so thanks...