Level: B2 (upper intermediate)
Today’s French word of the day is lors de, a prepositional phrase meaning “at the time of” and “during”. Lors de is always followed by a time word or event. For example, lors de mes vacances (at the time of my vacation).
lors de – IPA pronunciation [lɔʀ.də]
at the time of, during
Lors de: French Meaning, Usage & Examples
Lors de – podcast explanation
Word origin
Lors comes from illa hora in Latin, meaning “the hour”. In French, the preposition de means from or of. Hence, the literal translation based of lors de based on the Latin origin is “the hour of”.
Lors de example sentences
J’ai connu ma femme lors de mes vacances en France.
I met my wife during my vacation in France.
For these first two example sentences, lors de can translate to both “during” and “at the time of”. The verb connaître (to know a person, place or subject) in the passé composé means “met”.
Lors de mon anniversaire, je faisais du ski en Autriche.
I was skiing in Austria at the time of my birthday.
This sentence is in the imperfect tense, which used to express “was doing”.
Il a travaillé lors des deux dernières années.
He worked during the last two years.
For this example sentence, both lors de and pendant can be used to mean “during”.
Continue learning French!
This word of the day covers the conjunction lorsque (when), which is related to lors de.
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