Since we love food related expressions and there are plenty in French, let’s learn one today. The expression c'est pas de la tarte literally translates “it’s not pie.” It is equivalent to "it's not easy, it's tough, it's hard work." You might ask: why c'est pas rather than ce n'est pas? It's common for ne to be dropped in informal French. You could say ce n'est pas de la tarte, but the more informal your speech, the less likely you are to use ne.