How do you say “Come clean” in French?
The closest natural French equivalent is se mettre à table, which literally means “to sit down at the table”. English speakers use come clean to mean to admit the truth about something you have hidden. A familiar French idiom for confessing. It can sound more like being questioned than the English does. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural French
se mettre à table
/sə mɛtʁ a tabl/
- Literal meaning
- “to sit down at the table”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Close equivalent
87 out of 100
What a native French speaker would actually say
Away from a meal, “se mettre à table” can mean finally revealing what you know or what you did. The surrounding sentence needs to make the confession clear.
“Avouer” is a more neutral choice for simply admitting something. Use that if there is no feeling of being pressed for an answer.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning4 out of 5
- Tone4 out of 5
- Context4 out of 5
- Literal similarity2 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
I came clean and admitted that I had broken the vase.
French
Je me suis mis à table et j'ai avoué avoir cassé le vase.
English
She finally came clean about reading my private messages.
French
Elle s'est enfin mise à table : elle avait lu mes messages privés.
Related expressions
- What “Come clean” means in English
- Spill the beans, To give away a secret.
Last updated 2026-10-01