Why do I need to know 'se vendre comme des petits pains'?
Because it's one of those phrases that is almost, but not quite, the same as the English.
What does it mean?
Se vendre comme des petits pains - pronounced as suh-vohnd-ruh com-day-petty-pahn - literally translates as 'sell like little bread', although in this context petits pains refers to bread rolls.
But it really means that something is selling very fast, and people are very keen to get their hands on it. The English equivalent is 'to sell like hot cakes'.
France doesn't have much of a tradition of hot cakes or puddings, most pâtisserie is served cold, so the image perhaps wouldn't work as well - instead bread, that staple of French daily life, is the example of something that sells rapidly due to high demand.
READ ALSO: 320 eaten every second: 6 key facts about the French baguette
You might also hear 'partir comme des petits pains', which means the same thing.
Use it like this
"Ça se vend comme des petits pains" : où peut-on encore trouver des lunettes pour regarder l'éclipse solaire ? - They're selling like hot cakes - where can you still find glasses to watch the solar eclipse? [news headline]
Les billets pour le concert de Beyoncé se sont vendus comme des petits pains - Tickets to the Beyoncé concert sold like hot cakes
Ce livre va se vendre comme des petits pains - His book is going to sell like hot cakes
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