perdre mon temps
To say waste my time in French, use perdre mon temps. It describes spending time on something useless or pointless.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally means to lose my time, with perdre meaning to lose, mon meaning my and temps meaning time.
How does it change in a sentence?
The possessive changes with the subject, as in perdre son temps for one's own time. When someone else is wasting your time, use the causative form me faire perdre mon temps.
Did you know?
- The word temps in French is a homonym that means both 'time' and 'weather'. Depending on the context, saying someone is 'losing their temps' could technically refer to a change in the climate.
- In French, to say you are wasting time can also be expressed as tuer le temps, which literally means 'to kill the time'. This is used specifically when you are bored and trying to make time pass faster.
- The verb perdre shares the same Latin root as the English word 'perdition', which refers to a state of eternal punishment or spiritual ruin.
Examples in context
- Je ne veux pas perdre mon temps ici.I don't want to waste my time here.Je ne veux pas means I don't want, followed by the phrase.Tatoeba #12175465 by lbdx, translation #11028236 by megamanenm
- Ne me fais pas perdre mon temps, s'il te plaît.Please don't waste my time.Ne me fais pas perdre mon temps is how you tell someone not to waste your time.Tatoeba #7550393 by Aiji, translation #3281669 by CK
- Je préfère ne pas perdre mon temps à essayer d'apprendre une langue que je n'ai pas besoin de connaître.I'd rather not waste my time trying to learn a language that I don't need to know.à essayer means trying, the activity the time would be wasted on.Tatoeba #9009545 by Aiji, translation #3281742 by CK
- Je déteste quand les réunions durent trop longtemps, cela me fait perdre mon tempsI hate it when meetings last too long, it's a waste of my time
- Je refuse de gaspiller mon temps avec des futilitésI refuse to waste my time on trivial matters
- Encore une fois, il a réussi à me faire perdre mon tempsOnce again, he managed to waste my time
- Il aime m'envoyer des mails inutiles juste pour me faire perdre mon tempsHe enjoys sending me useless emails just to waste my time
- Ne me demande pas de t'accompagner, tu vas encore me faire tourner en rondDon't ask me to accompany you, you're just going to make me go in circles again
- Ce livre n'est pas intéressant du tout, il ne fait que me faire perdre mon tempsThis book is not interesting at all, it's just wasting my time
- Je n'ai pas envie de participer à cette réunion, cela risque de gaspiller toute notre matinéeI don't want to participate in this meeting, it might waste our entire morning
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Nathan and Manon are arguing about a boring movie.
- NathanCe film est vraiment nul, on devrait partir.This movie is really bad, we should leave.
- ManonAttends, la fin arrive peut-être bientôt !Wait, maybe the end is coming soon!
- NathanJe ne veux pas perdre mon temps avec ça.I don't want to waste my time with this.
- ManonD'accord Nathan, on s'en va.Alright Nathan, let's go.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
