Année

Differences Between French Pairs Like An/Annà ©e The French word pairs an/annà ©e, jour/journà ©e, matin/matinà ©e, and soir/soirà ©e can be confusing to students because each pair has a single English translation. The important thing to understand is that the difference between the words in each pair has to do with two different ways of considering time. The short words an, jour, matin, and soir (note that they are all masculine) indicate a simple amount of time or division of time. For the purposes of this lesson, well call these division words. Je suis en France depuis deux jours. Ive been in France for two days.Il est fatiguà © ce soir. Hes tired this evening. In comparison, the longer words annà ©e, journà ©e, matinà ©e, and soirà ©e (all feminine) indicate a duration of time, usually stressing the actual length of time. Ill call these duration words. Nous avons travaillà © pendant toute la matinà ©e. We worked all morning.Elle est la premià ¨re de son annà ©e.* Shes the first in her year/class. *Though annà ©e is feminine since it begins with a vowel you have to say son annà ©e (not sa annà ©e) Division Words vs. Duration Words Here are some general rules about when to use division words vs. when to use duration words, as well as some important exceptions. But if you consider them carefully, youll see that the exceptions follow the basic differences outlined above. Use division words with: 1. Numbers, except when you want to emphasize the duration or when the word is modified by an adjective. Un homme de trente ans.   A 30-year-old man.Il est arrivà © il y a deux jours. He arrived two days ago.Dans trois ans, jaurai terminà © mes à ©tudes. In three years, Ill have finished my studies.Jà ©tais en Afrique pendant trois annà ©es, pas deux. I was in Africa for three years, not two.Ils ont passà © sept merveilleuses journà ©es Paris.   They spent seven marvelous days in Paris. 2. Temporal adverbs demain matin tomorrow morningtà ´t le matin early in the morninghier soir last night Use duration words with: 1.de a descriptive noun lannà ©e de base base yearune journà ©e de travail de huit heures an eight-hour workdayles soirà ©es dà ©tà © summer evenings 2. with nearly* all adjectives, including: attributive adjectives lannà ©e scolaire the school year indefinite adjectives certaines annà ©es certain years interrogative adjectives preceded by a preposition en quelle annà ©e in which year possessive adjectives ma journà ©e my day However, note that an/annà ©e is far more flexible than the other pairs; for last year you can say lan dernier or lannà ©e dernià ¨re, next year can be lan prochain or lannà ©e prochaine, etc. Except for demonstrative adjectives, which are used with division words: cet an - cet an que jai và ©cu en France that year - that year that I lived in France (But when talking about the current year, say cette annà ©e - this year.) ce jour - ce jour oà ¹ nous sommes allà ©s au musà ©e this/that day - that day we went to the museumce matin, ce soir this/that morning, this/that evening The indefinite word tout has a different meaning with division vs. duration words; it is an indefinite adjective with division words and an indefinite pronoun with duration words. tous les matins, tous les jours every morning, every day vs. toute la matinà ©e, toute la journà ©e all morning, all day Note that when referring to the day of the week, you need the division word: Quel jour est-on? Quel jour sommes-nous? What day is it?Vendredi est le jour de la fà ªte. Friday is the day of the party.