Learning French: why the handy phrase rien à voir is often not linked to vision

One of the first French verbs we learn is voir, meaning ‘to see’, and it is fairly straightforward to use, although certain idiomatic expressions with voir can be surprising.

If you are explaining something and you hear ‘je ne le vois pas,’ then the other person doesn’t understand; it’s similar to ‘I don’t get it’. 

On the other hand, it can be used as a reflexive verb (se voir) to mean that an idea is absolutely clear, it is visible: ‘Il adore son travail, ça se voit’ (he loves his job, that’s clear/ you can see it).

The idea of visibility disappears when ‘voir’ is used with ‘rien’. If a subject has ‘rien à voir avec x’ there is no connection. 

You can use this handy phrase if you don’t want to get involved in someone else’s argument: cela n’a rien à voir avec moi! – meaning, that’s got nothing to do with me!

Read more: Nine reasons to learn French

What does rien à voir mean?

One expression that you cannot translate literally is rien à voir. On its own, this gem literally translates as ‘nothing to see’ but is actually used as ‘that’s not the same thing at all’ or ‘chalk and cheese’. 

If your colleague remarks that ‘une Porsche et une Fiat, ça n’a rien à voir!’ they are stating that these two cars are not the same thing at all, they should not be compared.

Imagine talking with your neighbour about how what we learn at school can be very different from the real world. She might reply, ‘Mais rien à voir, bien sûr!’ agreeing that it is completely different, of course.

And she would be right, because the French we speak when we live here is often a world away from the phrases we learned at school. Rien à voir!