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Quant à vous, qu'en pensez-vous?

In keeping with the Yabla French tradition of presenting three words that look or sound the same but mean different things (see our lessons on des, dés, and dès and si, si, and si), here are three more: quand, quant, and qu’en.

Of the three words, quand is the one you might be the most familiar with. It means “when,” both as an interrogative adverb (e.g. When are you going?) and as a conjunction (e.g. I’m going when I get off work). 

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In their discussion on multiculturalism, the R&B sister duo Les Nubians use quand as an adverb to speculate on a sort of global passport that would allow us all to become “universal citizens”:  

 

D'ailleurs quand est-ce qu'on invente le passeport?

By the way, when will they invent the passport?

Caption 26, Les Nubians - Le multiculturalisme

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As an interrogative adverb, quand can sometimes be replaced with à quel moment... or à quelle heure... (at what time…?). 

While Les Nubians are looking to the future, Axel reflects on the past in his tour of Paris’s Luxembourg Gardens, using quand as a conjunction: 

 

Je me rappelle quand j'étais petit, quand j'étais avec mes copains.

I remember when I was little, when I was with my friends.

Caption 58, Mon Lieu Préféré - Jardin du Luxembourg

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The other adverbial form of “when” is lorsque:

 

Lorsque je vous vois, je tressaille

When I see you, I quiver

Caption 19, Bertrand Pierre - Si vous n'avez rien à me dire

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Quand is also used fairly often in the expression quand même, which means “still,” “even though,” or “all the same”: 

 

Pas mal de nuages mais quand même des éclaircies.

Quite a few clouds but still some sunny spells.

Caption 9, Alsace 20 - Météo des Maquilleurs

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The words quand and quant are only off by one letter, so make sure not to confuse them in writing. Quant is always followed by à or one of its variants (à la, au, aux) and means “as for” or “regarding”:

 

Quant à l'adresse du destinataire, il s'agit du Père Noël.

As for the recipient's address, it's Santa Claus.

Caption 24, Télé Miroir - Adresse postale du Père Noël

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An expression to replace quant à is en ce qui concerne (concerning): En ce qui concerne l'adresse du destinataire, il s'agit du Père Noël.

Less confusable in writing is qu’en, which nevertheless sounds the same as quand and quant. Qu’en is a contraction of the relative pronoun que and the indefinite pronoun en and is used in phrases like:

Qu’en penses-tu?

What do you think about that

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As you may know, en replaces phrases beginning with de (or de la, du, des), so the above sentence could also be written as: Que penses-tu de cela? 

So what do you think about these three homonyms? (Quant à vous, qu'en pensez-vous?) We hope this lesson helped clear up any confusion you may have had! 

Vocabulary

Chez moi, c'est chez toi!

Chez is one of those few French words with no exact English equivalent. It’s a preposition that can be literally translated as "at the home of" or "at the establishment of," as Alex Terrier uses it when describing his early music influences.

 

Ensuite j'ai découvert chez mes parents

Then I discovered at my parents' place

des disques trente-trois tours...

some thirty-three rpm records...

Caption 11, Alex Terrier - Le musicien et son jazz

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It can also be used in front of a surname to indicate a family household:

 

Chez les Marchal, le bac c'est une affaire de famille.

At the Marchals', the bac is a family affair.

Caption 23, Le Journal - Le baccalauréat

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(Note that French surnames don’t take an extra s when pluralized: les Marchal.)

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Or it can be used with disjunctive pronouns (moi, toi, soi, etc.) to mean "at my house," "at your house," or even just "at home":

 

L'hiver, les gens préfèrent rester chez eux...

In the winter, people prefer to stay at home...

Caption 1, Fanny parle des saisons - La Bouffe

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You can also use chez for businesses, offices, restaurants, and other commercial locations: 

 

Je suis pizzaman chez F&F Pizza, un shift par semaine.

I'm a pizza man at F&F Pizza, one shift per week.

Caption 2, F&F Pizza - Chez F&F

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J'ai rendez-vous chez le dentiste et je suis en retard!

I have an appointment at the dentist and I'm late!

Caption 10, Micro-Trottoirs - Art ou science?

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But chez doesn’t only refer to buildings! Quite often, you will also see it used more figuratively. For example, just as "at home" can mean "in one’s house," "in one's country/native land," and just "familiar" in general, chez soi (or chez nous, chez moi, etc.) carries all those meanings as well: 

 

On se sentait absolument chez nous.

We felt right at home.

Caption 23, Les Nubians - Le multiculturalisme

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Finally, when describing something "about" or "in" a person, "among" a group of people, or "in the work of" an author or artist, chez is the word to use: 

 

Je l'ai retrouvée, je l'ai vue chez toutes les femmes, toutes les filles.

I recognized it, I saw it in all the women, all the girls.

Caption 53, Alphabétisation - des filles au Sénégal

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Les pâtes sont très populaires chez les Italiens.

Pasta is very popular among Italians

 

Il y a beaucoup de figures bizarres chez Salvador Dalí.

There are many bizarre figures in the work of Salvador Dalí.

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We chez Yabla encourage you to speak French as much as you can chez vous

 

Vocabulary