In today’s lesson we’ll have a look at the French feminine noun la vie, which means to “life”. This is the word found in the expression c’est la vie (that’s life).
la vie
life
Word origin
The French feminine noun vie (life) comes from vita in Latin. The English words “vitality” and “vitamin” are also derived from vita.
Example sentences
These first two example sentences use the impersonal expression il faut, which means “it’s necessary” and loosely translates to “one should” or “you have to”.
Pour être heureux dans la vie, il faut avoir des objectifs.
You have to have goals to be happy in life.
Il faut jouir de la vie autant que possible.
You have to enjoy life as much as possible.
This next sentence uses the verb profiter, which means “to enjoy” or “to take advantage of”. The word en in this sentence is an indirect object pronoun and means “it”, “some” or “them” for verbs followed by de.
La vie est courte. Profites-en !
Life is short. Enjoy it!
Related lessons
- Vivre – to live (Word of the Day)
- Vivre – to live (verb tables)
- C’est la vie – that’s life (expression)
References
