# What do the native French say to express "Ah, now I have it."( It's finally occurred to me)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 17, 2023, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687 "2023-10-17T03:15:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/1 "2023-10-17T03:15:24Z")

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What do the native French say to express “Ah, now I have it.” (Now the idea or word I was searching for has finally occurred to me). I haven’t found anything online that matches the equivalent in English.

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**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/2 "2023-10-17T03:21:19Z")

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Even though it is a greek word I believe the French also use “eureka”

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**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/3 "2023-10-17T04:05:02Z")

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Voila?

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/4 "2023-10-17T09:03:27Z")

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[The WordReference forum has got your back:](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/tiens-tiens.1247895/)

> [@](#):
>
> Sometimes, tiens-tiens almost means aha!  
> (when you have an aha moment)
> 
> • aha! means you have just understood something
> 
> • tiens-tiens! means you have found something new that might explain everything

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**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/5 "2023-10-17T12:30:31Z")

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You could say “ça me revient” (_it’s coming back to me_).

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/6 "2023-10-17T14:28:19Z")

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Thank you Moonrise. Perfect!

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/7 "2023-10-17T14:29:14Z")

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Thanks Kimstu.

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**Author:** ![J-P\_L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/j-p_l/32/3156_2.png) [@J-P\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J-P_L)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-native-french-say-to-express-ah-now-i-have-it-its-finally-occurred-to-me/991687/8 "2023-10-17T15:27:03Z")

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I would probably say: “Ah! la je comprend” ( Now I understand )