Today we’ll have a look at the masculine noun temps, which means “time” in French. The French use this word to talk about time in the genral sense – le temps passe vite (time flies!). We’ll also have a quick look at how to use temps when talking about the weather and temps vs. fois (another word for time).
le temps
time
Temps – time in French
Word origin
According to Wiktionary.org, the modern French masculine noun temps (time) comes from tems or tens in Old French, which in turn come from tempus (time, duration, time period) in Latin.
Pronunciation
In French, pronounce temps (time): [tɑ̃]. The final -ps is completely silent and the ɑ̃ symbol represents a the nasal sound which can be written en or an as in enfant (child).
Example sentences
For this first example, assez de + noun means “enough”. I cover assez in this lesson. The masculine noun projet can translate to both plan and project. I explain projet here.
J’ai assez de temps pour finir le projet.
I have enough time to finish the project.
The expression combien de temps translates literally to “how much time”. Depuis in French means “since” and we cover the word in this lesson.
Depuis combien de temps habites-tu à Paris ?
How long have you been living in Paris?
As mentioned the word temps also means and refers to the weather. In this lesson I cover French weather terms in detail. This lesson covers aujourd’hui (today).
Quel temps fait-il aujourd’hui? – Il fait beau.
How’s the weather today? It’s nice out.
The expression de temps en temps means from time to time. You need to do a liaison (the connecting of two words) on the -s on the first temps. Hence, it will sound like temps(z)_en temps.
Je mange le homard de temps en temps.
I eat lobster from time to time.
Temps vs. fois
In French, the feminine noun la fois also means “time”. Fois refers to how many times, for example one time, two times, three times, etc. While temps means “time” in the general, fois is used for counting how many instances an event occurs.
Combien de fois es-tu allé en France? – J’y suis allé trois fois.
How many times have you been to France? – I’ve been there three times.
Conclusion
Félicitations ! Now you know how to use temps (time) in French! Now check our our lesson covering a related word with tricky pronunciation: heure (hour).
