FlexiLingoIn one line
anandannée,jourandjournée,matinandmatinée— one of each pair is a unit, the other is a stretch of time.
Nouns
Units of time
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
la seconde | /sə.ɡɔ̃d/ | second |
la minute | /mi.nyt/ | minute |
l'heure (f.) | /œʁ/ | hour |
le jour | /ʒuʁ/ | day |
la semaine | /sə.mɛn/ | week |
le mois | /mwa/ | month |
l'an (m.) | /ɑ̃/ | year |
la saison | /sɛ.zɔ̃/ | season |
le siècle | /sjɛkl/ | century |
l'époque (f.) | /e.pɔk/ | era, period |
le moment | /mɔ.mɑ̃/ | moment |
l'instant (m.) | /ɛ̃s.tɑ̃/ | instant |
The "unit" and "stretch" pairs
| Unit | Stretch | The difference |
|---|---|---|
un an /œ̃.n‿ɑ̃/ | une année /y.n‿a.ne/ | an /ɑ̃/ with a number, année /a.ne/ with an adjective |
un jour /œ̃ ʒuʁ/ | une journée /yn ʒuʁ.ne/ | jour /ʒuʁ/ is a point, journée /ʒuʁ.ne/ a duration |
un matin /œ̃ ma.tɛ̃/ | une matinée /yn ma.ti.ne/ | the same |
un soir /œ̃ swaʁ/ | une soirée /yn swa.ʁe/ | the same |
| Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
J'ai trente ans. | with a number | /ʒe tʁɑ̃.t‿ɑ̃/ |
Bonne année ! | with an adjective | /bɔ.n‿a.ne/ |
Bonjour ! | the moment of meeting | /bɔ̃.ʒuʁ/ |
Bonne journée ! | have a good day, all of it | /bɔn ʒuʁ.ne/ |
Ce soir, je sors. | tonight | /sə swaʁ ʒə sɔʁ/ |
J'ai passé la soirée chez lui. | I spent the evening | /ʒe pa.se la swa.ʁe ʃe lɥi/ |
English has one word for each of these — day, year, morning, evening — so nothing in your language flags the difference. The two French words are not synonyms with different registers; they answer different questions.
jouranswers "which day?";journéeanswers "how long?"
Positioning words
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
aujourd'hui | /o.ʒuʁ.dɥi/ | today |
hier | /jɛʁ/ | yesterday |
avant-hier | /a.vɑ̃.t‿jɛʁ/ | the day before yesterday |
demain | /də.mɛ̃/ | tomorrow |
après-demain | /a.pʁɛ.də.mɛ̃/ | the day after tomorrow |
maintenant | /mɛ̃t.nɑ̃/ | now |
tout de suite | /tut sɥit/ | right away |
bientôt | /bjɛ̃.to/ | soon |
tard | /taʁ/ | late |
tôt | /to/ | early |
déjà | /de.ʒa/ | already |
encore | /ɑ̃.kɔʁ/ | still, again |
toujours | /tu.ʒuʁ/ | always, still |
jamais | /ʒa.mɛ/ | never |
souvent | /su.vɑ̃/ | often |
parfois | /paʁ.fwa/ | sometimes |
rarement | /ʁaʁ.mɑ̃/ | rarely |
d'habitude | /da.bi.tyd/ | usually |
en ce moment | /ɑ̃ sə mɔ.mɑ̃/ | at the moment |
autrefois | /o.tʁə.fwa/ | in the past |
désormais | /de.zɔʁ.mɛ/ | from now on |
entre-temps | /ɑ̃tʁ.tɑ̃/ | meanwhile |
Past and future
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
la semaine dernière | /sə.mɛn dɛʁ.njɛʁ/ | last week |
la semaine prochaine | /sə.mɛn pʁo.ʃɛn/ | next week |
le mois dernier | /mwa dɛʁ.nje/ | last month |
l'année prochaine | /a.ne pʁo.ʃɛn/ | next year |
il y a trois jours | /i.lja tʁwa ʒuʁ/ | three days ago |
dans trois jours | /dɑ̃ tʁwa ʒuʁ/ | in three days |
depuis trois jours | /də.pɥi tʁwa ʒuʁ/ | for three days |
pendant trois jours | /pɑ̃.dɑ̃ tʁwa ʒuʁ/ | for three days (completed) |
la veille | /vɛj/ | the day before |
le lendemain | /lɑ̃d.mɛ̃/ | the next day |
la veilleandle lendemainare relative to a point in the past, not to today. Seeconcordance-des-temps.English has "the day before" and "the next day" as phrases; French has single words for both — and uses them constantly in narrative.
Verbs
| Verb | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
durer | /dy.ʁe/ | to last |
passer | /pa.se/ | to pass, to spend |
commencer | /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/ | to begin |
finir | /fi.niʁ/ | to finish |
attendre | /a.tɑ̃dʁ/ | to wait |
se dépêcher | /sə de.pe.ʃe/ | to hurry |
être en retard | /ɛtʁ ɑ̃ ʁə.taʁ/ | to be late |
être en avance | /ɛtʁ ɑ̃n a.vɑ̃s/ | to be early |
à l'heure | /a lœʁ/ | on time |
prendre du temps | /pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃/ | to take time |
perdre du temps | /pɛʁdʁ dy tɑ̃/ | to waste time |
Adjectives
| Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|
long /lɔ̃/ | longue /lɔ̃ɡ/ | long |
court /kuʁ/ | courte /kuʁt/ | short |
rapide /ʁa.pid/ | rapide /ʁa.pid/ | fast |
lent /lɑ̃/ | lente /lɑ̃t/ | slow |
quotidien /ko.ti.djɛ̃/ | quotidienne /ko.ti.djɛn/ | daily |
hebdomadaire /ɛb.do.ma.dɛʁ/ | hebdomadaire /ɛb.do.ma.dɛʁ/ | weekly |
mensuel /mɑ̃.sy.ɛl/ | mensuelle /mɑ̃.sy.ɛl/ | monthly |
annuel /a.ny.ɛl/ | annuelle /a.ny.ɛl/ | annual |
récent /ʁe.sɑ̃/ | récente /ʁe.sɑ̃t/ | recent |
ancien /ɑ̃.sjɛ̃/ | ancienne /ɑ̃.sjɛn/ | old, former |
actuel /ak.ty.ɛl/ | actuelle /ak.ty.ɛl/ | current |
Set phrases
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
Ça prend combien de temps ? | /sa pʁɑ̃ kɔ̃.bjɛ̃ də tɑ̃/ | how long does it take? |
Ça dure deux heures. | /sa dyʁ døz œʁ/ | it lasts two hours |
Je n'ai pas le temps. | /ʒə ne pa lə tɑ̃/ | I haven't got time |
de temps en temps | /də tɑ̃.zɑ̃.tɑ̃/ | from time to time |
à temps | /a tɑ̃/ | in time |
en même temps | /ɑ̃ mɛm tɑ̃/ | at the same time |
tout le temps | /tul.tɑ̃/ | all the time |
la plupart du temps | /ply.paʁ dy tɑ̃/ | most of the time |
Il est temps de partir. | /il ɛ tɑ̃ də paʁ.tiʁ/ | it's time to go |
Le temps passe vite. | /lə tɑ̃ pas vit/ | time flies |
à l'heure actuelle | /a lœʁ ak.ty.ɛl/ | at the present time |
Traps
| Trap | Explanation |
|---|---|
an with a number, année with an adjective | trente ans but bonne année. |
toujours has two meanings | "always" and "still". Il est toujours là can be either. |
encore means both "still" and "again" | Il dort encore = he's still asleep. Encore une fois = one more time. |
le temps means both time and weather | Je n'ai pas le temps (time) Quel temps fait-il ? (weather). |
la veille is the day before | Not a vigil. |
prochain differs before and after the noun | la semaine prochaine = next week le prochain arrêt = the next stop. |
déjà in a question means "yet" | Tu as déjà mangé ? = have you eaten yet? |
The four pairs to learn together
one rule behind all four
French distinguishes a point in time from a stretch of time, and has a separate word for each:
| Point | Stretch |
|---|---|
un an /œ̃.n‿ɑ̃/ | une année /y.n‿a.ne/ |
un jour /œ̃ ʒuʁ/ | une journée /yn ʒuʁ.ne/ |
un matin /œ̃ ma.tɛ̃/ | une matinée /yn ma.ti.ne/ |
un soir /œ̃ swaʁ/ | une soirée /yn swa.ʁe/ |
And the "stretch" form is always feminine and ends in -ée — so they were all built from one pattern.
Three practical rules:
1. With a number, the short form.
trois ans·deux jours— notannées,journées
2. With an adjective, the long form.
une bonne année·une longue journée·toute la matinée
3. In greetings, the long form wishes the whole period well.
| Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
Bonjour | hello, at the moment of meeting | /bɔ̃.ʒuʁ/ |
Bonne journée | have a good day — on leaving | /bɔn ʒuʁ.ne/ |
Bonsoir | good evening, on arriving | /bɔ̃.swaʁ/ |
Bonne soirée | have a good evening — on leaving | /bɔn swa.ʁe/ |
So Bonjour on arrival and Bonne journée on departure. Swapping them is immediately noticeable.
English preserves a trace of exactly this. "Good morning" is a greeting; "have a good morning" is a farewell. French does the same thing with two different nouns instead of by adding "have a".
One exception to know: l'année dernière, l'année prochaine — here année is used even without a number, because there is an adjective.