Extended Vocabulary
Related French Time Vocabulary
Updated 17 April 2026
Once you know the days of the week, these vocabulary groups complete your French time toolkit: months of the year, yesterday/today/tomorrow, week expressions, seasons, and times of day.
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow in French
Three of the most-used time words in any language. All three are simple and do not change form in French.
J'ai vu ce film hier. = I saw this film yesterday.
Qu'est-ce qu'on fait aujourd'hui ? = What are we doing today?
Je t'appellerai demain. = I will call you tomorrow.
Le colis arrive apres-demain. = The package arrives the day after tomorrow.
Je l'ai rencontre avant-hier. = I met him the day before yesterday.
The fascinating etymology of aujourd’hui
Aujourd’hui is grammatically one of the most fascinating French words. It means “today” but is itself a compound of an earlier word for today: “hui” (from Latin hodie, meaning “on this day”). Over time, French speakers added the prepositional phrase “au jour de” (on the day of) before it, producing “au jour de hui”, then contracted to aujourd’hui. It literally means “on the day of today” - a tautology. Even more remarkably, in informal French, people sometimes say “au jour d’aujourd’hui”, adding yet another “on the day of” - making it “on the day of on the day of today”. Language evolves in surprising directions.
Week Expressions in French
The French word for week is “la semaine” (feminine). It comes from Latin septimana (seven-day period) from septem (seven). The weekend presents an interesting linguistic situation in French: the most common term is “le week-end” - an anglicism that French adopted wholesale, including the English pronunciation. In Quebec French, “la fin de semaine” (end of the week) is preferred, reflecting the traditional French aversion to anglicisms.
| French Expression | English | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| cette semaine | this week | |
| la semaine prochaine | next week | |
| la semaine derniere | last week | |
| dans deux semaines | in two weeks | |
| la semaine | the week (general) | |
| le week-end | the weekend | |
| la fin de semaine | the weekend (Canadian French) |
Months of the Year in French
Like the days of the week, French months are NOT capitalised unless at the start of a sentence. They are all masculine nouns. Most months have obvious Latin cognates - “janvier” from Janus (the two-faced Roman god of doorways and beginnings), “mars” from the war god (same root as the French Tuesday), “juillet” from Julius Caesar, “aout” from Augustus Caesar. The Roman calendar influence runs deep.
Using months in dates: “le 17 avril” (April 17), “en mai” (in May), “au mois de juin” (in the month of June). Month names are preceded by “en” without an article, except for some expressions with “au mois de”.
Seasons in French
The four seasons in French use different prepositions: “au printemps” (in spring), but “en ete”, “en automne”, “en hiver” for the other three.
le printemps
spring
/pʁɛ̃.tɑ̃/
l'ete
summer
/e.te/
l'automne
autumn / fall
/o.tɔn/
l'hiver
winter
/i.vɛʁ/
Times of Day in French
le matin
the morning
/ma.tɛ̃/
l'apres-midi
the afternoon
/a.pʁɛ.mi.di/
le soir
the evening
/swaʁ/
la nuit
the night
/nɥi/
Combine with days: “lundi matin” (Monday morning), “vendredi soir” (Friday evening), “samedi apres-midi” (Saturday afternoon).
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