How do you say “Close, but no cigar” in French?
The closest natural French equivalent is Presque, mais pas tout à fait, which literally means “Almost, but not quite”. English speakers use close, but no cigar to mean almost successful or correct, but not quite. A simple French response when someone nearly gets it right. It is less jokey than the English. Register: neutral. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural French
Presque, mais pas tout à fait
/pʁɛsk mɛ pa tut a fɛ/
- Literal meaning
- “Almost, but not quite”
- Register
- neutral
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Close equivalent
85 out of 100
What a native French speaker would actually say
There is no need to mention a cigar in French. “Presque” acknowledges how close the person came, and “pas tout à fait” marks the remaining gap.
This is a plain paraphrase. For a lost contest, the surrounding sentence should say what was missed so the result is clear.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone4 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity1 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
We lost the final by one point: close, but no cigar.
French
On a perdu la finale d'un point : presque, mais pas tout à fait.
English
You guessed 1984; it was 1985. Close, but no cigar.
French
Tu as proposé 1984 ; c'était 1985. Presque, mais pas tout à fait.
Related expressions
- What “Close, but no cigar” means in English
- Miss the boat, To be too late for an opportunity.
Last updated 2026-10-01