Listening to one of my old favorites in the car the other day, I got to thinking about French expressions for time and in particular the difference between some very common expressions that, while not exactly confusing, can trip up the novice and experienced language learner alike. You see, the French have two words for many common times that are generally (though as you’ll see, not always) covered in English by just one.<\/p>\n
What are these words? Well, the English word “year” can be an <\/em>or ann\u00e9e.<\/em> Day is either le jour<\/em> or la journ\u00e9e. <\/em>Morning, le matin<\/em> or la matin\u00e9e. <\/em>And evening? le soir <\/em>or la soir\u00e9e. <\/em>What’s going on? Good luck finding the answer in a dictionary or online. The best most sources agree on is that the masculine forms (l’an, le jour, le matin, le soir<\/em>) are specific times on the calendar\/schedule, while the feminine forms (l\u2019ann\u00e9e, la journ\u00e9e, la matin\u00e9e, la soir\u00e9e<\/em>) generally refer to more general “states” of time … though of course, there are exceptions and no one quite seems to be able to nail down the exact difference\/definition.<\/p>\n After much research, I think the best way to master these “tricky” terms is to share examples. Dictionaries (including the always amazing le Petit Larousse<\/em>) are helpful but sometimes the best way to understand what a word means (in French, in English, or in any language!) is to see how it’s used. So with that in mind, here is a non-exhaustive-but-hopefully-helpful list of examples (and the video for that song that set me on this path!).<\/p>\n L’an \/ l’ann\u00e9e<\/em> (these two aren’t always interchangeable, but are much more “flexible” than the rest of the pairs)<\/p>\n J’ai 47 ans<\/em> \/ I am 47 years old (always use “ans” . . . you can’t say “j’ai 47 ann\u00e9es”)<\/p>\n Bonne Ann\u00e9e<\/em> \/ Happy New Year (always “ann\u00e9e”)<\/p>\n L’an dernier<\/em> \/ last year (literally “the last year” . . . 2015 . . . the calendar year that precedes this one)<\/p>\n L’ann\u00e9e derni\u00e8re<\/em> \/\u00a0 this past year (can mean the last 12 months as well as “last year”)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n le jour \/ la journ\u00e9e<\/em><\/p>\n Les jours de la semaine sont: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, et dimanche<\/em> \/ the days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (notice that in French the days of the week are not capitalized, and also that Monday is the first day of the week)<\/p>\n Bonjour<\/em> \/ Hello<\/p>\n Bonne journ\u00e9e<\/em> \/ Good day (to you), Have a good day<\/p>\n Il a pass\u00e9 trois jours a New York.<\/em> \/ He spent three days in New York.<\/p>\n Elle travaille pendant la journ\u00e9e.<\/em> \/ She works during the day(time).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n le matin \/ la matin\u00e9e<\/em><\/p>\n Demain matin<\/em> \/ tomorrow morning<\/p>\n Demain dans la matin\u00e9e<\/em> \/ Tomorrow during the morning(time)<\/p>\n Il va au supermarch\u00e9 demain matin<\/em> \/ He is going to the supermarket tomorrow morning<\/p>\n Demain, il va passer la matin\u00e9e au parc<\/em> \/ Tomorrow, he’s going to spend the morning at the park<\/p>\n <\/p>\n