{"id":30394,"date":"2018-06-20T04:27:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T02:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30394"},"modified":"2018-06-21T15:40:32","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T13:40:32","slug":"where-and-when-useful-expressions-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/where-and-when-useful-expressions-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Where and When – useful expressions in French"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relativity isn’t just a concept in physics. Knowing the relative order of events in time, or the relative location of objects in space, is as useful here on la Terre <\/strong>(Earth) <\/em>as it is in l’\u00e9space <\/strong>(space<\/em>). Fortunately French has some handy vocabulary that we can use to differentiate both.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A photo of the Eiffel Tower taken from across the river at Trocadero.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00c7a se passe o\u00f9? <\/strong>\/ Where\u2019s it happening?<\/em><\/p>\n

When you are trying to explain to someone where something is, it can often be useful to define location in relation to another object. For example, La Tour Eiffel est en face du Trocadero.<\/strong> (The Eiffel Tower is across from Trocadero.)<\/em> Here are five other useful terms \/ expressions you can use in French to describe relative positions (and example sentences for each):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Fran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/em><\/td>\nFran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
devant
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
in front (of)<\/em><\/td>\nJe te retrouverai devant le magasin.
Error occurred when trying to fetch the file using wp_safe_remote_get(). A valid URL was not provided.<\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
I\u2019ll meet you in front of the store.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
derri\u00e8re
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
behind \/ to the back of<\/em><\/td>\n\u00a0Cache toi derri\u00e8re le canap\u00e9!
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
\u00a0Hide behind the couch!<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e0 l\u2019avant
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
to the front (or towards the front)<\/em><\/td>\n\u00a0Je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re\u00a0\u00eatre\u00a0 \u00e0<\/strong> l’avant quand je vol en avion.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/b><\/td>\n
\u00a0I like to sit towards the front when I fly.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e0 l\u2019arri\u00e8re
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
to the back (or towards the back; at the back)<\/em><\/td>\nLes livraisons se font \u00e0 l\u2019arri\u00e8re de la boutique.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
Deliveries are made at the back of the shop.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
next to<\/em><\/td>\nNous habitons \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de l\u2019\u00e9cole.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
We live next to the school.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e0 la gauche de*
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
to the left of<\/em><\/td>\n\u00a0L’\u00e9cole est au but de la rue \u00e0 la gauche de l’\u00e9glise.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
\u00a0The school is at the end of the street to the left of the church.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00e0 la droite de*
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
to the right\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n\u00a0Il y a un petit parc sympathique \u00e0 la droite de notre maison.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
\u00a0There is a nice little park to the right of our house.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* You will also encounter\u00a0\u00e0 gauche de<\/em> and \u00e0 droite de<\/em> which more generally mean\u00a0on the left<\/em> and\u00a0on the right <\/em>as in \u00e0 la droite de l’\u00e9cran<\/em>\u00a0(on the right (side) of the screen).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00c7a se passe quand? <\/strong>\u00a0\/ When is it happening?<\/em><\/p>\n

Similarly, describing when something happened can often be enhanced by adding information about when an event happens in relation to another event. And while the days of the week are useful for talking about specific times, relative expressions like\u00a0demain, hier,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0aujourd’hui <\/strong>can be helpful too for providing relative references in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Fran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/td>\nFran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
avant
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
before<\/em><\/td>\nIl faut toujours se brosser les dents avant d\u2019aller au lit.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
One must always brush one\u2019s teeth before bed.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
apr\u00e8s
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
after<\/em><\/td>\nEn France, la salade est servie apr\u00e8s le plat principal.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
In France, the salad is served after the main course.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
premier \/ premi\u00e8re
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
first<\/em><\/td>\nJanvier est le premier mois de l\u2019ann\u00e9e.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
January is the first month of the year.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dernier \/ derni\u00e8re
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
last<\/em><\/td>\nDimanche est le dernier jour de la semaine.**
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
Sunday is the last day of the week.**<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
aujourd’hui
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
today<\/em><\/td>\nJe dois aller voir mon m\u00e9decin aujourd\u2019hui.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
I must go see my doctor today. (Or: I have to go see my doctor today.)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
demain
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
tomorrow<\/em><\/td>\nNous allons manger<\/a> chez mes parents demain.
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
We\u2019re going to eat at my parents tomorrow.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
hier
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n
yesterday<\/em><\/td>\nJ\u2019ai vu mon ami Paul au parc hier.<\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/td>\n
I saw my friend Paul in the park yesterday.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

** In France (and just about every country except the US, Canada, and Japan!) the week<\/a> begins with\u00a0lundi<\/strong> (Monday<\/em>) and ends on\u00a0dimanche<\/strong> (Sunday).\u00a0<\/em>In the US, Canada, and Japan the week begins with\u00a0dimanche<\/strong> and ends with\u00a0samedi<\/strong> (Saturday).<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo of the Eiffel Tower [CC0 license] from\u00a0https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/picture-of-eiffel-tower-338515\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Relativity isn’t just a concept in physics. Knowing the relative order of events in time, or the relative location of objects in space, is as useful here on la Terre (Earth) as it is in l’\u00e9space (space). Fortunately French has some handy vocabulary that we can use to differentiate both. \u00c7a se passe o\u00f9? \/…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":30399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[284,11656,346,357,432,55189,12514],"class_list":["post-30394","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","category-vocabulary","tag-free-french-lessons","tag-french-blog","tag-french-grammar","tag-french-language","tag-french-vocabulary","tag-grammaire-francaise","tag-vocabulaire-francais"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30394"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30442,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30394\/revisions\/30442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}