Avoir les jetons is a French idiom that translates literally to “to have the chips” and means “to be petrified”, “to have the jitters” or simply to be scared.
Avoir les jetons
to be petrified, have the jitters, to be scared
Example sentence
For the example sentence, j’ai dû is the passé composé of the verb devoir (must, to have to).
Pour descendre la montagne j’ai dû prendre le télésiège. Normalement je n’ai pas le vertige mais cette fois j’ai eu les jetons !
To go down the mountain I had to take the chairlift. Normally I’m not afraid of heights but this time I was petrified.
Origin
The expression has to to with earning one’s salary and going to the roulette table and experiencing fear when placing a bet and losing everything.
Reference
