deux fois
The English word "twice" is translated into French as deux fois.
deux fois is used as an adverb to express that an action or event occurs two times.
Meaning: two times (adv)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the number deux (two) and the noun fois (times).
Which one should you use?
À deux reprises is a slightly more formal term for twice that emphasizes repeated occurrences.
How does it change in a sentence?
Unlike English, which has a specific word "twice", French uses the construction 'number + fois' to express frequency.
Did you know?
- The French word fois evolved from the Latin vicem, which is also the root of the English word 'vice' in the sense of a substitute.
- When counting occurrences in French, you must be careful with the spelling of fois because it is often confused with the word foi, which means 'faith'.
- While deux fois is used for frequency, French uses the word double when 'twice' refers to a size or amount, such as 'twice as large'.
Examples in context
- On l'a fait deux fois.We did it twice.This sentence shows how to use deux fois to express how many times an action was performed.Tatoeba #11252508 by lbdx, translation #5758285 by CM
- J'ai vérifié deux fois.I checked twice.This sentence demonstrates using deux fois to indicate how many times something was checked.Tatoeba #7793406 by Aiji, translation #7561809 by AlanF_US
- C'est arrivé deux fois.It happened twice.This sentence shows using deux fois to describe how many times an event occurred.Tatoeba #11707740 by lbdx, translation #2248731 by CK
- La réunion aura lieu deux fois par semaine.The meeting will take place twice a week.
- Le projet a été discuté et évalué à deux reprises.The project has been discussed and evaluated twice.
- Nous avons mangé des croissants deux fois ce matin.We had croissants twice this morning.
- Ce nouveau smartphone offre deux fois plus de fonctionnalités que l'ancien.This new smartphone offers twice as many features as the old one.
- 218 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Gabriel and Emma are discussing a recipe.
- GabrielIl faut mélanger les ingrédients deux fois.You have to mix the ingredients twice.
- EmmaVraiment ? C'est assez long.Really? That's quite long.
- GabrielOui, pour que ce soit bien lisse.Yes, so that it is very smooth.
- EmmaD'accord, je vais le faire.Okay, I will do it.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “twice” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
