Learn French in Three Minutes #23 - Asking "When" in French
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Salut, je m'appelle Ingrid. Hi everybody, I'm Ingrid. Welcome to FrenchPod101.com's Le français en 3 minutes. The fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn French. In the last lesson, we learned how to ask where questions in French. This time, we are going to ask questions with the word when. Let's go, c'est parti ! Imagine you want to ask when your roommate is coming back home. You will ask him Quand rentres-tu à la maison ?

Quand rentres-tu à la maison ? So let's break down this answer. First, we had "Quand" which is the basic translation of "when" in French. "Rentre" is the verb to come back, "rentrer" in French, at the second person present indicative form. Then "tu" which is the informal form for "you". And finally "à la maison" which is "home". So all together it is "Quand rentres-tu ?" When will you come back home ?

So in French, "when" is generally translated as the word "quand". For example, if you want to ask "When were you born?", "Quand es-tu né?". As in English, the question word is placed in the first position, then the verb and then the subject. So let's have a look at another example. How can you say "When did you arrive?". It is really simple since it's exactly the same pattern. "Quand es-tu arrivé?". First, we have "quand" which is "when".

The second word is "être" which is the verb "être" in the second person present indicative form. "Tu" is "you" in informal form. And finally, "arriver" which is the past participle for the verb "arriver" "to arrive". Have you noticed a difference between the sentences "Quand rentres-tu à la maison?" and "Quand es-tu arrivé?"

The first one is talking about a future action : "When are you coming back home ?" Whereas the second one is referring to the past : "When did you arrive ?" The conclusion is that you can use the question word "quand" to talk about any moment, whether past or present. If you want to ask a question about duration as in "Since when have you been a teacher ?" Then you will have to say : "Depuis quand es-tu professeur ?"

Here too, it's exactly the same pattern as in English because "since" is "depuis" so "depuis quand" means "since when". Let's see how to ask "until when" in French. It is very easy as you can translate it directly. It becomes "jusqu'à quand". So for example, if you want to ask a friend "Until when are you going to stay here?" It will be "Jusqu'à quand vas-tu rester ici?"

But of course, there are other ways to ask about time. You can even be more specific by asking about the year, the date or the hour. For example, you can ask : Which year did you start working ? En quelle année as-tu commencé à travailler ? Which day is better for you ? Quel jour t'arrange le plus ? What hour can we meet ? À quelle heure pouvons-nous nous rencontrer ?

Now it's time for Ingrid's insights. To ask how long an action has been taking place in French, we could say "Depuis quand?" But there is another very simple way to do it. You just have to use the pattern "ça fait combien de temps que" as in "ça fait combien de temps que tu attends?" that is "How long have you been waiting?"

Ok, so in this lesson, we learned how to perfectly use the French word for "when", "quand" and also its different variations. Next lesson, we'll learn more about asking questions with "who" in French. I'll be waiting for you in the next "Le français en 3 minutes". À bientôt !