Three Step French - Learn #11 - Managing Hotel Check-ins in French - Grammar
08:27 Share

Let's look at the sentence pattern. The first pattern is the structure that some of our examples will follow. Noun or noun phrase. Être à partir de. Time. Noun or noun phrase is from. Time. First is the noun or noun phrase. This is the thing you're talking about, like an event, a reservation or a service. Then we have Être à partir de.

which means "is from". This phrase marks the starting time of something. And finally, we have the time. This can be in 24-hour format. In this pattern, "être" is the third person singular form of the verb "être", which means "to be". "À partir de" literally means "starting from", but in natural English, we just say "from".

Let's see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. L'enregistrement à l'hôtel est à partir de 15 heures. "Check-in at the hotel" is from 3 pm. In this sentence, l'enregistrement is the noun meaning "check-in". That's the thing we're talking about. "À l'hôtel" tells us where the checking is happening, at the hotel. Altogether, they will form the noun phrase.

l'enregistrement à l'hôtel, meaning checking at the hotel. Then comes the key part, est à partir de 15 heures. This means is from 3 p.m. So est is the verb is and à partir de 15 heures means starting from 3 p.m. So l'enregistrement à l'hôtel est à partir de 15 heures translates to checking at the hotel is from 3 p.m.

Maintenant, vous pouvez utiliser cette structure pour parler des temps de départ pour tous les types d'événements ou services en français. Pour le prochain pattern, regardons comment dire "until" et à quel moment quelque chose sera. La phrase "none" est ouverte jusqu'à "time". La phrase "none" est ouverte jusqu'à "time". Nous commençons avec la phrase "none"

"the thing that is open". This could be a place like a store or a restaurant. Next is "être ouvert" or "être ouverte". This means "is open". "Ouvert" is used when the noun is masculine. "Ouvert" is used when the noun is feminine. After that, we have "jusqu'à" meaning "until", followed by a time like

"22h" which is "10pm" in 24 hours time. So when you want to say something stays open until a certain time, this is the pattern you'll use. Let's see how the second focus from the dialogue follows this pattern. Elle est ouverte jusqu'à 22h. "It is open until 10pm." In this sentence, elle

"Être ouverte" meaning "is open". The adjective "ouverte" ends in "i" to match the gender of the feminine noun. "Jusqu'à 22 heures" means "until 10 pm".

So, "elle est ouverte jusqu'à 22 heures" means "it is open until 10 pm". Now, you can use this pattern to talk about when something closes in French. In France, many stores and businesses take a long lunch break in the middle of the day. It's common for shops to close around 12 pm and reopen around 2 or even 3 pm.

This break is called la pause déjeuner, or the lunch break. That's why you might see signs that say ouvert à partir de 15 heures, open from 3 pm. Big supermarkets and chains often stay open all day, but in smaller towns, that afternoon break is still a big part of daily life. Now let's look at some speaking examples.

La banque est ouverte jusqu'à 17 heures. "The bank is open until 5 pm." Can you see how the pattern applies here? Let's work it down. Here, "la banque" is a noun phrase, the thing we're talking about. In this case, "the bank" means "is". "Ouvert" is the adjective meaning "open". It ends in "i" because "bank" is a feminine noun.

jusqu'à 17 heures. Means "until 5 pm". So that's how "La banque est ouverte jusqu'à 17 heures" fits the pattern "non" or "non phrase est ouverte jusqu'à" time. The bank is open until 5 pm. Here's another example. Le magasin est ouvert à partir de 8 heures. The store is open from 8 am. Le magasin

est ouvert à partir de 8 heures. The store is open from 8 am. Let's try one more. La bibliothèque est ouverte jusqu'à 19 heures. The library is open until 7 pm. La bibliothèque est ouverte jusqu'à 19 heures. The library is open until 7 pm. Another one. Le restaurant est ouvert à partir de midi.

Le restaurant est ouvert à partir de 12h. One last example. La piscine est ouverte jusqu'à 21h. The pool is open until 9pm.