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Sometimes, Three Times

There are three different ways of saying "sometimes" in French, and they all have one thing in common: the word fois (time).

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The first is quelquefois, which literally means "sometimes" (quelque = some; fois = times). Note that quelquefois is written as one word, like "sometimes," but unlike other quelque words such as quelque chose (something) and quelque part (somewhere):

 

Quelquefois, vous allez voir des produits qui ne correspondent pas à cette recette.

Sometimes, you'll see products that don't correspond to this recipe.

Caption 38, Le saviez-vous? - La Maison de l'Olive à Nice

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Then there's parfois (par = by, through, per; fois = times):

 

Je vais parfois au cinéma.

I sometimes go to the movies.

Caption 25, Le saviez-vous? - Les différentes négations

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Finally, there's des fois (literally "some times" or just "times"), which is a bit more familiar. It roughly corresponds to the English expression "at times": 

 

Je me force un peu des fois

I force myself a bit sometimes (at times)

à sortir de ma zone de confort.

to get out of my comfort zone.

Captions 46-47, Giulia - Sa marque de bijoux 'Desidero'

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There are a couple other ways of saying "sometimes" in French that use the other word for "time," temps. These are de temps en temps and de temps à autre, which both mean "from time to time," "every now and then," "once in a while," "occasionally":

 

Peut-être que vous sentez les odeurs qui sortent des studios de temps en temps.

Maybe you smell the aromas that come out of the studios from time to time.

Caption 10, 4 Mains pour 1 Piano - Médaillon de Homard

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Je parle à mes amis d'université de temps à autre.

I talk to my college friends every now and then.

 

Just don't confuse any of these with the expressions for "sometime" and "some time." "Sometime" (meaning "eventually" or "at a later time") is un de ces jours (one of these days) or un jour ou l'autre (one day or another). And "some time" (meaning "a while") is quelque temps:

 

Un jour ou l'autre (Un de ces jours) on sera tous papa

One day or another we'll all be a dad (We'll all be a dad sometime)

Caption 28, Stromae - Papaoutai

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Et puis après, j'ai été célibataire quelque temps.

And then after that, I was single for a while (for some time).

Caption 26, Le Journal - L'âge et la fertilité

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Vocabulary

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