Escapade à vélo en forêt de Rambouillet depuis Paris

What does “faire un petit somme” mean in French?

After a long bike day, the speaker and friends “ont fait un petit somme” on the train home — they took a short nap. The surprise: un somme (masculine) means a quick sleep, but une somme (feminine) means a sum of money. Same spelling, different gender, very different meanings. “Faire un petit somme” is a warm, everyday way to say you dozed off — on a couch, in a chair, or on a train.

From the clip: “on a repris la ligne N direction Paris, dans laquelle on a fait un petit somme” — “we took the N line back toward Paris, and on it we had a little nap.” The word somme is easy to mix up. Le somme (masculine) = a short sleep, a snooze. La somme (feminine) = a sum, a total, an amount of money. Same letters, very different meanings. You mostly hear the masculine form inside a small set of fixed phrases. Useful ones to keep: faire un somme (to take a nap) and the more casual piquer un somme (literally “to grab a nap,” very colloquial). For a planned rest after lunch, French speakers more often say faire la sieste. Un somme is lighter and can happen any time — on a sofa, in a chair, on a train. Example: “Je suis crevé, je vais faire un petit somme.” = “I’m exhausted, I’m going to take a quick nap.”