According to the postulate established by J. Dubois and M. Gross there is no real language analysis without a broad and unbiased observation of a specific language. Another requirement is a prior careful syntactic description in accordance with Z. Harris’s findings. These two conditions remain relevant when it comes to the comparison of idioms in two languages. The fruitfulness of this approach is illustrated in this paper which deals with idioms that in both Italian and French involve verbs. A sharp treatment of meaning however eludes the mere domain of syntax even if it is studied in depth. Yet the use of electronic tools which goes with descriptive work enables scholars to overcome this obstacle.