Time expressions:

Seasons, year, days of the week, time of day, narrative time

  1. Seasons, year

au printemps, en été, en automne, en hiver

in spring, in summer, in automn, in winter

en novembre, en juillet

in November, in July

l'été dernier, le printemps prochain

last summer, next spring

à l'hiver 2000

in the winter of 2000

à l'an 2001

in the year 2001; countable year

l'année prochaine, l'année dernière

next year, last year; the year long

 

2. Days of the week are not capitalized; use 'le' to indicate 'on'

lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche

Monday, Tuesday, etc.

le lundi, le mardi, etc.

on Mondays, on Tuesdays, etc.

every Monday, every Tuesday, etc.

mercredi prochain

next Wednesday

mercredi dernier

last Wednesday

dans une semaine, en huit jours

in a week

d'ici en quinze

2 weeks from now

3. Day, time of day; 'le' means 'in'

le jour, il y a 7 jours dans la semaine

countable day; there are 7 days in a week

la journée, j'ai passé la journée à la plage

the day long, I spend my day at the beach

le matin, l'après-midi,

le soir, la nuit

every morning, every afternoon,

every evening, every night, at night

Je me brosse les dents le matin et le soir.

I brush my teeth every morning and evening.

du matin, de l'après-midi, du soir

in the morning, in the afternoon,

in the evening

Tu te lèves à 7h du matin.

You get up at 7 in the morning.

samedi matin

Saturday morning

Elle a dormi tard samedi matin.

She slept late Saturday morning (last Saturday).

Nous dormons la nuit.

We sleep at night

Je suis rentrée à 1h du matin.

I came in at 1 in the morning

 

4. Narrative time

demain, hier, aujourd'hui

(adverb, no article)

tomorrow, yesterday, today

hier soir

last night

la veille

the night before

le lendemain

the next day

il y a 2 semaines

two weeks ago

au prochain moment

in the next moment