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According to https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/it+is+what+it+is this idiomatic expression is used to talk about:

The situation, circumstance, or outcome (that) has already happened or been decided or established, so it must be accepted even if it is undesirable.

Some examples of usage:

Look, we lost the game, but it is what it is. All we can do is work even harder for the next one.

I'm not terribly fond of my daughter's new boyfriend, but it is what it is.

What are some colloquial ways to express similar ideas in French?

Dimitris
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    I'm new here. Why is "c'est ce que c'est" wrong? – Aravind Suresh Thakidayil Jul 23 '19 at 12:46
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    @AravindSuresh I had also this query. Based on Deepl "I'm not terribly fond of my daughter's new boyfriend, but it is what it is" is translated by "Je n'aime pas trop le nouveau copain de ma fille, mais c'est ce que c'est." I think c'est ce que c'est is not considered idiomatic. But I am not a native speaker to elaborate more. By the way French of Quebec has c'est ça qui est ça. – Dimitris Jul 23 '19 at 13:11
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    @AravindSuresh I confirm c'est ce que c'est wouldn't work at all. – jlliagre Jul 23 '19 at 20:24
  • @jlliagre Thanks for the confirmation. Maybe you should also add this in your reply. – Dimitris Jul 23 '19 at 20:30
  • @jlliagre I am wondering if "c'est ça qui est ça" sounds idiomatic or not for a native French speaker of Hexagon. – Dimitris Jul 23 '19 at 20:56
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    Both c'est ça qui est ça and c'est ce que c'est wouldn't be understood. They are just tautologies and don't express an opinion while c'est comme ça has an implicit continuation et c'est pas autrement. – jlliagre Jul 23 '19 at 21:05
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    @AravindSuresh Because the French language doesnt use "it" as a replacement pronoun. What you wrote literally does not make sense. que or "that" could work, but it is clumsy. The accepted answer uses proper pronouns, and wouldn't work in English. It is literally "he must make with" – Stian Jul 24 '19 at 15:37
  • @jlliagre Evidemment, "C'est ça qui est ça" ne marche pas en français. Par contre, dire que "C'est ce que c'est" ne l'est pas non plus, me semble y aller un peu fort. – Lambie Jun 02 '20 at 14:26
  • @Lambie C'est ce que c'est n'est certes pas impossible en tant que phrase mais je pense que ce ne serait pas compris dans le contexte de la question qui demande une expression idiomatique. Je n'ai trouvé que trois vraies occurrences de c'est ce que c'est avec Google books et aucune ne fait partie d'un dialogue. – jlliagre Jun 02 '20 at 15:58
  • @jlliagre En tant que francophone, tu n'entends pas dans ta tête, "Bof, ouais, c'est ce que c'est, tu sais" par exemple? Pas tout ce qui se dit est googlable. – Lambie Jun 02 '20 at 16:44
  • @Lambie En tant que francophone de France, je me dirais que cette expression émane de quelqu'un imprégné par l'anglais it is what it is ou par une autre langue pour qui cette forme est familière (ex: espagnol es lo que es). Je me fait d'ailleurs la même réflexion à propos d'une phrase commençant par : Pas tout ce qui se dit est... qui me fait furieusement penser à no todo lo que se dice es verdad ou à not all what glitters is gold. – jlliagre Jun 02 '20 at 20:00
  • @jlliagre [All that glitters is not gold, luv] Oui, je comprends tes commentaires. – Lambie Jun 03 '20 at 16:37
  • "Je ne suis pas ce que vous croyez, ce que vous voyez : ce que vous voyez c’est un objet qui pèse tant de kilos, qui à telle couleur. Bon c’est ce que c’est, peu importe ! "https://livrepasserelle.fr/albert-jacquard/ langage parlé – Lambie Mar 13 '22 at 01:32

10 Answers10

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The first expression that comes to mind is:

Mais c'est comme ça.

e.g.:

Regarde, on a perdu le match, mais c'est comme ça. La seule chose qu'on peut faire, c'est travailler encore plus dur pour le prochain.

Je ne suis pas très fan du nouveau petit ami de ma fille, mais c'est comme ça.

While mais c'est comme ça is relatively close to the English "but it is what it is", note that its word by word translation c'est ce que c'est wouldn't work at all in French.

This expression is sometimes used in its "verlan" form (banlieues French, rap lyrics...):

Mais c'est ça comme.

jlliagre
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    Alternative : « mais c'est ainsi ». – None Jul 22 '19 at 08:19
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    @Laure Yes, although like c'est la vie, this alternative seems less colloquial than c'est comme ça. On the other hand, petitrien's faut faire avec is spot on. – jlliagre Jul 22 '19 at 09:01
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    Upvoted this one because : 1. That's what I would say as a native speaker. 2. It's quite close to the english version, making it easier to remember for a non-native speaker. – Berthim Jul 22 '19 at 09:01
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    @jlliagre: there's nothing colloquial with this expression in the first place. I don't think it makes sense to focus on this aspect of the question. – Stéphane Gimenez Jul 22 '19 at 09:24
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    @StéphaneGimenez The OP explicitely asks for a colloquial expression. C'est ainsi sounds a little formal to me, and c'est la vie a little outdated. I agree the latter is not formal. – jlliagre Jul 22 '19 at 09:53
  • Totally agree with jiliagre - c'est ainsi is way too stuffy for conversation, and c'est la vie reeks of the 50s at most. –  Jul 22 '19 at 22:35
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    @unludo My answer is closer to the English words but faut faire avec perfectly matches the part of the definition that states: "so it must be accepted even if it is undesirable". I only regret petitrien didn't remove the pronoun il from the sentences, the usual phrase being either faut faire avec or y faut faire avec. – jlliagre Jul 23 '19 at 20:20
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    @jillagre I see "C'est comme ça" as closer, "il faut faire avec" is a consequence of this statement. Again just my opinion. Actually I use "c'est comme ça" regularly as a french frog. :D – unludo Jul 24 '19 at 08:37
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    I instinctively want to stress comme and pronounce it in a higher pitch than the rest when saying “c’est comme ça” in this sense; I feel like this is a rather defining feature of the phrase. In other uses, like “c’est comme ça qu’on sait que…” or “c’est comme si c’était…”, comme would be a regualr unstressed preposition, with the following element stressed. But I’m not a native speaker – can you confirm whether my higher-pitch, stressed comme in this particular sense actually reflects reality, or whether I’ve just made it up myself somehow? – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 24 '19 at 10:34
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    @JanusBahsJacquet I don't think comme can be stressed in that phrase. It is normally pronounced a neutral way, with all syllables unstressed. Stressing comme it might occur while showing the right way to do something, like Mais non, c'est COMME ça qu'il faut faire ! but that's a different usage. – jlliagre Jul 24 '19 at 14:19
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    @jlliagre I see. In your example, I would stress ça (“Mais non, c’est comme ÇA qu’il faut faire !”), would that not be normal? How about the higher pitch in “mais c’est comme ça” in the ‘that’s life’ sense, does that ring familiar to you? – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 24 '19 at 14:26
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    Stressing ça is also possible but perhaps less common than comme. Ça would be stressed in a question: C'est comme ÇA ? – jlliagre Jul 24 '19 at 14:42
  • @jlliagre I see that your answer has been given much more positive feedback (i.e. votes and comments) than the answer (that I have) accepted. Being a non native speaker both of the answers sound equally great. I must admit that I chose the other answer based on the fact petitrien is a new user:-)! But seeing the difference in votes I am wondering if I should change my choice. Could you explain me why the other answer is considered not so good as yours from a native's speaker point of view? – Dimitris Jul 24 '19 at 19:55
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    I wouldn't change that choice if I were you. I support such changes when an incorrect or off topic answer has been accepted by mistake, or if a significantly better one emerges, but in my opinion petitrien's one does perfectly match the definition given by thefreedictionary.com. It also has a quite a large number of positive votes, and will have mine too should a small modification is made. It seems some voters preferred my answer because it is closer to the English phrase. In any case, given the large number of views, answers, votes and comments, that was a great question to ask :-) – jlliagre Jul 24 '19 at 22:57
  • @jlliagre Thanks for your comment! Ok I leave it as it is. I hope that petitrien add also your modification (without il or y faut faire avec). – Dimitris Jul 25 '19 at 08:04
  • @jlliagre You write: "This expression is sometimes used in its "verlan" form (banlieues French, rap lyrics...): Mais c'est ça comme." I don't get the verlan connotation. Could you elaborate a little bit? – Dimitris Jul 25 '19 at 11:39
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    Verlan is a kind of slang where a word syllables are reversed. In that particular case *comme ça* is lexicalized (i.e. taken as a single word) and "verlanized" as *ça comme* (sometimes spelled ça kom). – jlliagre Jul 25 '19 at 12:07
  • @jlliagre Thanks a lot. Now I got it. – Dimitris Jul 25 '19 at 12:28
  • C'est comme ça is really: That's the way it is. – Lambie Aug 31 '19 at 21:18
  • @Lambie Not "is really" but "can be also". "It is what it is" might not match "that's the way it is" but c'est comme ça matches both, c'est comme ça... – jlliagre Aug 31 '19 at 23:08
  • For me, the contemporary expression: "It is what it is" is a negative. It means: It's not great. And it does not mean the same thing as; That's the way it is. Il faut faire avec renders the meaning better, in my opinion. If I were going from French to English, I would only translate C'est comme ça only as: That's the way it is. – Lambie Aug 31 '19 at 23:12
  • @Lambie C'est comme ça can also be negative but in my opinion too, il faut faire avec, or better y faut faire avec or even better faut faire avec render the meaning better. I already wrote it in previous comments and even advise the OP to keep petitrien's answer as his accepted one despite mine having more votes. That's still the case so there might be no consensus. No big deal. – jlliagre Aug 31 '19 at 23:30
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To refer to something that you have to accept even though you may not like it, you can say Il faut faire avec.

  • On a perdu le match, mais il faut faire avec.
  • Je suis pas très fan de son nouveau copain, mais il faut faire avec.

Note (comment @jlliagre)

One would drop the il in a colloquial conversation (i.e. mais faut faire avec).

jlliagre
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It all depends on the context, but in those two particular cases, believe it or not, a French speaker may actually use “C'est la vie”.

Écoute, on a perdu. C'est la vie. On fera mieux la prochaine fois.

Son nouveau petit ami ne me plaît pas beaucoup, mais que dire ? C'est la vie.

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Stéphane Gimenez
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I also found this (exclusively for French Canadians)

...c'est ça qui est ça...

Source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/French/comments/1zhrhf/cest_quoi_l%C3%A9quivalent_en_fran%C3%A7ais_de_it_is_what/

See also:

https://oreilletendue.com/2014/04/30/cest-tout-bis/

https://www.wikebec.org/cest-ca-qui-est-ca/definition/

(EDIT 01/2023: Unfortunately, the second link appears to be broken.)

Dimitris
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    A variation on this expression was used to great effect in the popular song "Ça Que C'tait" by rap group Alaclair Ensemble (https://g.co/kgs/agprkJ):

    "Tu pensais qu’c’tait ça que c’tait, mais c’tait pas ça que c’tait", i.e. "You thought that's what it was, but that's not what it was".

     – François Leblanc Jul 24 '19 at 13:23
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One idiomatic way to express it, albeit not formal at all, would be :

C'est l'jeu, ma pauv' Lucette.

This come from a TV advertisement for the Française Des Jeux (French lottery), in which an old couple winning lottery find destinations for holiday by spinning a globe, and land on Australia. The wife say it is too far, and her husband answer with this "That's the game, my poor Lucette".

This used to be popular, but the usage seems to decrease as the TV spot memories grows old.

Kevin FONTAINE
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    really, tv ad as a reference? –  Jul 22 '19 at 22:37
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    This TV ad is were this specific expression come from. This is definitely not the most general way to express "it is what it is", but I wanted to include it for completeness. – Kevin FONTAINE Jul 23 '19 at 07:19
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    @GeorgeM it's an expression I've heard a lot (from France / Switzerland). It goes with a condescending / mocking tone, said to somehow who is not happy about losing in a game / gamble. – Pac0 Jul 23 '19 at 13:47
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    @GeorgeM That's true. This ad, aired in the 90's, came into popular culture in France and it's not uncommon to hear it even today. However, it might be used mostly by people in their 30s to 50s, younger people not knowing the origin of the idiom. It's not the answer, but definitely a good alternative one. – Berthim Jul 23 '19 at 14:32
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    Been recycled by my friends as "c'est l'tarif, ma pov' lucette". Same meaning as 'it is what it is', but exclusively for cruel/unfair situations. – m.raynal Jul 24 '19 at 13:16
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You could try voilà or bon

Look, we lost the game, but it is what it is.

Écoute, on a perdu le match et voilà.

I'm not terribly fond of my daughter's new boyfriend, but it is what it is.

Je ne suis pas un grand fan du copain de ma fille mais bon.

WoJ
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Another option:

Écoute, on a perdu, mais ainsi va la vie. On fera mieux la prochaine fois.

I view this option as slightly sadder than "c'est la vie".

Franck Dernoncourt
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An expression from a current singer that is used by young people could be c'est rien on s'adapte :

On a perdu le match, c'est rien on s'adapte. On travaillera encore plus dur pour le prochain.

Je ne suis pas très fan du nouveau petit ami de ma fille, mais c'est rien on s'adapte.

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Jul
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    Isn’t that a bit more optimistic than “it is what it is”? Sounds more like “this isn’t a big deal, we’ll manage” more than “well, we can’t change it, so we may as well try to accept it”. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 24 '19 at 10:37
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    Never heard such an expression, although native French speaker... – Jean Marie Becker Jul 24 '19 at 20:05
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IMHO, "I'm not terribly fond of my daughter's new boyfriend, but it is what it is." is a poor example. "It is what it is" is used to describe a "general situation" that directly impacts the speaker but for which the speaker has not been able to change. The daughter's selection of boyfriend is not sufficiently general to be used with this phrase. The most pertinent translation suggested is probably "c'est comme cà", although English has another closer translations of "c'est comme ça", (=that's how it is) and that is probably what would be used rather than "it is what it is" when talking of the boyfriend; Although "Il faut vivre avec" shares much of the sense, in English the closest direct translation of this would be "We have to live with it" but again it isn't really a good fit when talking about the personal choice of someone for a boyfriend.

Aquilegus
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  • So many great answers. Thanks. The example is taken from https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/it+is+what+it+is. – Dimitris Jul 24 '19 at 14:04
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In a strategic context, one may see:

C'est le jeu

perhaps less weighty than "c'est la vie".

jialibun
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