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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French word of the Day: Congé

It's what most of France is on right now.

Published: 13 August 2021 11:16 CEST
French word of the Day: Congé
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Why do I need to know congé?

Because it’s the most common answer to anything in August in France.

What does it mean?

It means being away from work.

Most French learners will know the more common word for holidays – les vacances.

This is used in les grandes vacances (summer holidays) les vacances scolaires (school holidays) and projets de vacances (holiday plans).

READ ALSO The 8 signs that August has arrived in France

But le congé or les congés is also widely used.

It’s a slightly more formal word that better translates as ‘leave of absence from work’ and is used in official contexts such as le congé annuel (annual leave), le congé de maternité (maternity leave), le congé de paternité (paternity leave) or le congé parental (parental leave).  

However people also use it frequently in everyday conversation to say they will be off work, and in August you will often see signs up on closed shops and bars announcing that the owners are away for their summer holidays.

The ‘g’ is soft, so it is pronounced con-shay not con-gay. 

Use it like this

Je suis en congé annuel et je reviendrai pour la rentrée – I am out of the office on annual leave and will be back in September

Fermé pour congé annuel – closed for annual leave

Emmanuel Macron a doublé le congé de paternité – Emmanuel Macron has doubled paternity leave

Member comments

  1. With reference to your article on the Maiden Name Conundrum, my girlfriend lives in Paris and was vaccinated there and her vaccination certificate has both her married name and her maiden name.
    Vincent

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For members

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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