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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Word of the Day: alors

Stumped by what this extremely common French word actually means? Et alors? -- Now you've got the perfect opportunity to find out.

Published: 30 January 2019 15:36 CET
French Word of the Day: alors
Photo: Depositphotos

Why do I need to know alors?

French speakers pepper conversation with alors all the time. It's one of those words that you can go by years without knowing exactly what it means, but will make you sound a lot more natural when you talk. 

What does it mean?

Alors has several meanings. 

It can be used to mean 'then' or 'in that case'. For example, Si tu sais conduire, alors tu peux prendre la voiture. (If you can drive, then you can take the car.)

Or it can mean 'so', 'well' and in informal conversation, 'so then'. 

For example Alors, raconte ce qui s'est passé! (So, tell me what happened!/Well? Tell me what happened!)

Or, Alors, ton nouveau voisin, il est comment? which means 'So then, what's your new neighbour like?'
 
Alors can also be used as part of an expression, such as in the case of Ça alors! which is used to express shock and is the equivalent of 'goodness!', 'my goodness!' and 'goodness me!', or even 'well,well!' in English. 
 
Or you might hear someone shout in an exasperated manner Merde alors! which means 'For crying out loud!' or 'For goodness' sake!'
 
Another common expression including alors is Et alors? which means 'So what?' and is often said in a sarcastic tone. 
 
For example you might say Tu n'y crois pas? Et alors? (You don't believe it? So what?)
 
How is it pronounced?
 
Remember to make sure you can hear that French 'r' when pronouncing alors. 
 
Here's a YouTube video to help you pronounce it perfectly. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Member comments

  1. Alors on its own is often used. When I ate in a café I often sighed and said Alors. There then was a sort word mexican wave with everyone saying Alors. Also Bon Alors is often used. I have tried Mal Alors but I am told this does not make sense.

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French word of the Day: Jours ouvrés

You'll need to check the calendar carefully when you see this.

Published: 17 May 2024 12:36 CEST
French word of the Day: Jours ouvrés

Why do I need to know jours ouvrés?

Because you need an accurate time estimate.

What does it mean?

As most French learners will know, jours means days, while in this context ouvrés means ‘working’. Therefore jours ouvrés – roughly pronounced jzoor-ouv-ray – means ‘working days’. You may also see jours ouvrables, which means the same thing.

You’re most likely to come across this in the context of estimates on how long things will take – for example a delivery or the processing of an official task or perhaps the results for a test or exam.

And this is where the calendar comes in – ‘working days’ doesn’t include the weekends, but also excluded are public holidays, of which France has quite a lot. So an estimate for livraison dans les cinq jours ouvrés – might actually take almost two weeks to reach you, if there are weekend days and public holidays in between.

Days on either side of public holidays (known as ‘pont‘ days) are technically working days, but don’t be too surprised if things don’t happen on these days either. 

Although ouvrés looks similar to ouvrir (to open) the root of the work is actually ouvrer – an archaic verb meaning to work or to labour.

This word was gradually supplanted by travailler in around the 16th century, but some derivatives of it are still used – most commonly ouvrier (or ouvrière for women) which means a worker – it can be used for all types of salaried workers, but is more commonly used for people who do manual labour or work with their hands. 

It’s often used in a political sense too – one of France’s leftist political parties is Lutte ouvrière, which translates as Worker’s struggle. 

Use it like this

La livraison est estimée à trois jours ouvrés – Delivery is estimated within three working days

Les résultats seront communiqués sous 48 hours (jours ouvrés) – the results will be sent within 48 hours (on working days)

Not to be confused with 

If you want to talk about ‘open days’ – days when institutions including schools, the military or artists workshops open up to the public – in France these are known as portes ouvertes (literally ‘open doors’).

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