Level B1 (Intermediate)
The French word of the day is puis, which means ‘then’ and ‘next’. We’ll also look at et puis, which means ‘and finally’, ‘and what’s more’, and ‘moreover’.
Puis – IPA pronunciation /pɥi/
How to Use “puis” & “et puis” in French
Word origin
The modern French adverb puis (then) comes from postius in Vulgar Latin and postĕā (afterwards) in Latin.
Puis example sentences
For this first example, puis simply means ‘then’. This sentence is in the imperative, a mood which is used for giving commands in French.
Achète les baguettes, puis achète le fromage.
Buy the baguettes, then buy the cheese.
For this second example, et puis could translate to both ‘and then’ as well as ‘and finally’.
J’ai fait une pizza, une salade et puis un dessert.
I made a pizza, a salad and then a dessert.
For this third example, et puis can translate to ‘and what’s more’, ‘and also’ and ‘moreover’. This last sentence came directly from a dialogue in the book Communication en dialogues.
Promis. Et puis j’ai autre chose pour toi, regarde !
Promissed. And what’s more, I have something else for you – look!
Continue learning French!
Now that you’ve mastered puis, check our lesson covering the related word puisque (since).
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