"Charles Baudelaire, the celebrated French poet of the 19th century, once wrote: Souviens-toi que le Temps est un joueur avide// Qui gagne sans tricher, à tout coup ! c'est la loi. The line, which appears in his a piece called L'horloge (The clock), translates as: "Remember that time is voracious player// That wins without cheating, every time! It's the law." Which maybe explains the plethora of French time-related phrases."
"À la bonne heure This expression, pronounced "a la bon er", literally means "at the good/correct hour". It can be used for something that happens to schedule, but also has a more nuanced meaning. À la bonne heure can be used as a general expression of approval or agreement. For example: Il ne veut plus que je vienne à son restaurant? À la bonne heure! - "he doesn't want me to come to his restaurant anymore? Fine!""
French commonly uses 24-hour (military) time in everyday conversation, and many idiomatic expressions address time in non-literal ways. These expressions cover punctuality, approval, possibility, vagueness, and flexible scheduling. Some phrases function as responses or markers of tone rather than precise clock times. Short dialogues and examples show how expressions like "à la bonne heure" can mean both timeliness and approval. Mastering these idioms improves comprehension and helps speakers sound more natural and local when discussing schedules, timing, or temporal attitudes in French.
Read at The Local France
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]