le week-end
The English phrase "on the weekend" is translated into French as le week-end.
le week-end refers to the period of Saturday and Sunday. When you place le week-end at the beginning of a sentence to describe a recurring habit, it functions as an adverbial phrase of time.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Quebec and other French-speaking regions in Canada, la fin de semaine is the standard term used instead of the anglicism le week-end. To say "next weekend" in Quebecois, you use La fin de semaine prochaine.
How does it change in a sentence?
To say "on the weekends" in the plural, you change the article to the plural les and add an s to the noun, resulting in les week-ends.
Did you know?
- In France, the term le week-end was so widely adopted from English that the Académie française, the official guardian of the language, historically campaigned against it to protect the purity of French.
- The word week-end is a direct loan from the English term 'week-end', which was more common in English writing before it evolved into the single word 'weekend'.
- In France, you might hear the term bon week-end used as a standalone greeting, much like 'have a good weekend' in English. It is a common way to say goodbye to colleagues on a Friday afternoon.
Examples in context
- Qu'as-tu fait le week-end ?What did you do on the weekend?This sentence is useful for asking what someone did using le week-end.Tatoeba #6734463 by felix63, translation #69229 by Dejo
- Le week-end, on peut rester tranquille.We can laze around on the weekend.This sentence shows how to describe a possibility using le week-end at the start of the sentence.Tatoeba #10153182 by olivier, translation #9524262 by Taam
- Le week-end, je m'occuperai du jardin.On the weekend I will take care of the garden.This sentence demonstrates using le week-end at the start of a sentence to express a future plan.Tatoeba #11537403 by carlosalberto, translation #11537400 by carlosalberto
- On se retrouve le week-end pour prendre un café ensemble ?Shall we meet up on the weekend to have coffee together?
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Lucas are discussing their upcoming plans.
- LéaQu'est-ce que tu fais le week-end ?What are you doing on the weekend?
- LucasJe vais voir ma famille.I am going to see my family.
- LéaC'est super, Lucas !That's great, Lucas!
- LucasEt toi, tu sors le week-end ?And you, are you going out on the weekend?
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries le, week-end, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
