You probably came across the word jour (day) very early on, when you learned the greeting bonjour (hello). But did you know that bonjour has a feminine counterpart, bonne journée (have a nice day)?
And are you aware that there are two words in French not only for "day," but also for "year," "morning," and "evening"?
masculine feminine
day un jour une journée
year un an une année
morning le matin la matinée
evening le soir la soirée
Is there a difference between the masculine and feminine versions? If so, which one should you choose?
The shorter masculine nouns un jour, un an, un matin, un soir refer to a specific point in time, a unit of time, with an emphasis on quantity. The longer feminine nouns une journée, une année, la matinée, la soirée emphasize duration and quality.
Although the masculine and feminine versions of each word translate more or less the same way, they have different shades of meaning that are not necessarily conveyed in English and that can be difficult for French learners to grasp.
In this lesson, we'll explore the differences between jour and journée (day), and we will cover the remaining words in a future lesson.
So, let’s take a closer look at jour (day) first. As mentioned earlier, the shorter masculine word jour refers to a day as a unit of time, or a point in time.
You always use jour when referring to a calendar day, as in:
Quel jour sommes-nous?
What day is it? (literally, "What day are we?")
You would never say, Quelle journée somme-nous?
A point in time doesn’t have to be specific. Un jour can also mean "one day" or "someday":
Un jour le destin lui donnera une occasion de régler ses comptes.
One day, fate will give her an opportunity to settle her score.
Caption 56, Le Jour où tout a basculé J'ai escroqué mon assurance ! - Part 3
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In any case, jour often does refer to a specific or even a special day. In the example below, Sam explains to his mother that today was a special day: lotto day.
Aujourd'hui, c'était le jour du loto
Today was lotto day
Caption 3, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 5
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And it’s a special day for his friend Nico too, who picked up two girls in a single day:
Ouais. Deux filles en un seul jour.
Yeah. Two girls in a single day.
Caption 17, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 5
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Note that en une seule journée (in a single day) would be grammatically and semantically acceptable, but maybe not the best choice here. It would mean something like "in the span of a single day." En une seule journée wouldn’t sound quite as striking, as Nico wants to emphasize the record time it took him to pick up two girls!
Meanwhile, Annie is celebrating Sacha’s lottery win. She tells her:
C'est ton jour de chance.
It's your lucky day.
Caption 4, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 4
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Unfortunately, her jour de chance turns out to be un jour de malchance:
Quel jour de malchance!
What a day of bad luck!
Caption 59, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 8
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The expression is usually un jour de malchance, since the emphasis is on the unlucky event, but you could say une journée de malchance if you wanted to shift the emphasis onto the duration of the day—perhaps referring to a day filled with unlucky events!
It was also un jour de malchance for the mother in the example below, who remembered ce jour-là (that day) as the day when she found out that her baby was switched at birth:
Ce jour-là, je savais que ma vie ne serait plus jamais la même.
That day, I knew that my life would never be the same again.
Caption 24, Le Jour où tout a basculé Nos bébés ont été échangés... - Part 4
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We use the construction ce jour-là (that day) to look back on a significant day, or event.
And to convey the passage of time and repetition, we have the expression au fil des jours (day by day/as the days go by):
Pourtant, au fil des jours, Edna se laisse peu à peu séduire par René.
However, as the days go by, Edna lets herself be seduced by René little by little.
Captions 15-16, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mes grands-parents sont infidèles - Part 6
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It makes sense to use jours with adjectives of quantity like plusieurs (several) and tous (every), as we are counting the days:
Il s'apprête à passer plusieurs jours en province.
He is getting ready to spend several days outside of Paris.
Caption 25, Le Jour où tout a basculé Espion dans l'immeuble - Part 1
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You also use jours combined with the plural adjective tous (every/all) to explain what you do every day:
Et je travaille ici tous les jours.
And I work here every day.
Caption 4, Fred et Miami Catamarans Les Bateaux
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But watch what happens when you use the feminine form of tout, toute (all, whole):
Et donc, j'ai passé la journée à faire comme ça. J'ai fait Cluzet toute la journée.
And so I spent the day going like that. I did Cluzet all day.
Caption 74, Alsace 20 Laurent Chandemerle, l'homme aux 100 voix
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By switching to the feminine form, toute la journée (all day/all day long), the emphasis is now on duration rather than a point in time. When describing how you spend your day, you need to use journée. You would never say tout le jour to mean “all day”: only toute la journée.
Just like toute, prepositions of duration like pendant or durant (during) also pair with journée:
Deux minutes en moyenne d'attente pendant la journée
Two minutes of waiting on average during the day
Captions 69-70, Adrien Le métro parisien
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And when referring to a day dedicated to a specific cause, such as International Yoga Day, you would also use journée:
Donc c'est la deuxième année qu'est célébrée cette Journée Internationale du Yoga
So it's the second year that this International Day of Yoga is being celebrated
Caption 2, Paix et partage Journée Internationale du yoga
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Finally, le jour can also mean "day" as a general unit of time, the opposite of la nuit (night):
Une demi-heure dans un simulateur de conduite toutes les quatre heures, de jour comme de nuit.
Half an hour in a driving simulator every four hours, day and night.
Caption 19, Le Journal Apnée du sommeil
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As you can see, jour and journée are so similar, yet so different. The rules are somewhat flexible, but there are certain situations that call for one word over the other.
Au fil des jours (over time), by watching Yabla videos tous les jours (every day), you’ll find it easier to choose the correct word!
And stay tuned for a lesson on an/année (year), soir/soirée (evening), and matin/matinée (morning) in the future.
In her new sci-fi series Pas de crédit dans le monde des clones, Patricia imagines a dystopian future in which all credit card companies have merged into one:
Du fait de nombreuses fusions,
Because of many mergers,
il ne reste plus qu'une société anonyme de cartes de crédit.
there remains only one limited liability credit card company.
Caption 15, Patricia - Pas de crédit dans le monde des clones
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Du fait de is one of several French expressions that mean "because" (you can learn more about these expressions in our past lesson on the topic). It's also one of many expressions featuring the word fait, which you might recognize as a conjugation of the verb faire (to make, to do). But fait is also a noun meaning "fact"—du fait de literally means "from the fact of." In this lesson, we'll review some other "fact"-based expressions in French.
Patricia uses a similar expression to du fait de earlier on in her video—de ce fait (therefore, literally "from this fact"):
De ce fait, toutes les procédures de paiement
Therefore, all payment procedures
sont réalisées sans argent physique.
are performed without physical money.
Caption 13, Patricia - Pas de crédit dans le monde des clones
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Now that you know that fait means "fact," you can probably guess what en fait means. Alessandro uses it when interviewing a flea market vendor:
Vous, c'est une véritable passion
For you, it's a true passion
que vous partagez tous les jours en fait.
that you share every day, in fact.
Caption 6, Cap 24 - Paris : Alessandro fait les Puces!
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The vendor responds in the next caption with another fait expression, tout à fait (exactly):
Oui, oui. Tout à fait.
Yes, yes. Exactly.
Caption 7, Cap 24 - Paris : Alessandro fait les Puces!
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Don't confuse en fait with au fait, which means "by the way" or "incidentally":
Ah, au fait, j'ai parlé à Vanessa de nos nouveaux voisins.
Oh, by the way, I spoke to Vanessa about our new neighbors.
Caption 22, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Espion dans l'immeuble - Part 8
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En fait and au fait are easily confused not only because they look similar, but also because the t is pronounced in both of them. In most other instances of the word fait, the t is silent.
If someone has done a good job on something, you can say, Bien fait! (Well done!) In this case fait isn't a noun but the past participle of the verb faire:
Oui, chef. Bien fait!
Yes, chief. Well done!
Caption 46, Il était une fois... L’Espace - 3. La planète verte
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As a noun, fait doesn't only mean "fact." It can also mean "event" or "occurrence" depending on the context:
Cette histoire est inspirée de faits réels.
This story is inspired by real events.
Caption 21, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Espion dans l'immeuble - Part 1
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This lesson is now a fait accompli (accomplished fact). Thanks for reading!
In our last lesson, we looked at three different ways of saying "to look like" in French. We'll continue that pattern in this lesson by introducing the three different ways of saying "to feel": sentir, se sentir, and ressentir. Though these verbs all look alike and have the same meaning, each of them is used in a different context.
Sentir (related to "sense" in English) generally refers to feeling the physical effects of something, such as a post-run stretch or a cool breeze:
Tu dois sentir une petite tension au niveau, au niveau musculaire.
You should feel a little tension at the level, at the muscular level.
Caption 12, Joanna - La course à pied: Récupération
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J'aime sentir la brise rafraîchissante sur mon visage.
I love feeling the cool breeze on my face.
Besides bodily sensations, sentir can refer to feeling any kind of external pressure:
Mais cette année on sent la crise, hein.
But this year we're feeling the financial crisis, you know.
Caption 26, Actu Vingtième - Le vide-grenier
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But "feeling" isn't the only sense of sentir. It can also mean "to smell," both in terms of smelling something and giving off a scent:
Peut-être que vous sentez les odeurs qui sortent des studios
Maybe you smell the aromas that come out of the studios
de temps en temps.
from time to time.
Non, oh pas vraiment parce que nous, on est derrière les cuisines
No, oh not really because us, we're behind the stoves,
et puis ça sent!
and so it smells!
Captions 10-11, 4 Mains pour 1 Piano - Médaillon de Homard
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When you make sentir reflexive (se sentir), it becomes less about external, physical feelings and more about internal, emotional ones. While sentir usually takes an object, se sentir usually precedes an adjective or adverb to describe a person's condition or state of mind:
Très vite, elle se sent menacée.
Very soon, she feels threatened.
Caption 5, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Espion dans l'immeuble
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Ah, je me sens mieux!
Ah, I feel better!
Caption 42, Cap 24 - Les bus sont-ils toujours en retard ?
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Finally, there's ressentir, which literally means "to feel again." That might give you a clue about this verb's connotations. Like se sentir, ressentir also refers to an interior feeling, but it's generally used to describe an intense emotion, something you strongly feel. Like sentir, it usually takes an object:
Vous voyez cette exigence que je ressentais...
You see this demand that I felt...
Caption 23, Le Journal - Défilé de mode
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C'était vraiment quelque chose que je ressentais,
That it was something that I really felt,
qui me rendait vraiment heureuse.
that made me really happy.
Caption 5, B-Girl Frak - La Danse
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Though ressentir is related to the English verb "to resent," it doesn't have the same meaning. Le ressentiment, however, does mean "resentment."
Sometimes it's tough to talk about your feelings—no matter what language you're speaking. These three verbs will help you do it in French!
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