"It is January."

Translation: Nous sommes en janvier.

[Liz0701]

Why can't you write "c'est le janvier"?

[Seraphim330]

the same question here :(

[lmpica]

This is simply an idiomatic phrase that doesn't translate word-for-word into English. Just like we understand that "j'ai vingt-cinq ans" means "I'm 25 years old" and not the literal "I have 25 years," this is another turn of phrase which needs to be understood to have a non-literal translation.

The following constructions are used equivalently to "it is" in English for this specific case:
- Nous sommes en [month]
- Nous sommes [day]
- On est [day]

[Lekannn]

Merci beaucoup pour ce. I read that a similar idiomatic phrase is used in Arabic and I've learnt that not every statement will translate literally to other languages.

[AylaRavenstar]

Thanks for the clarification! I just came across this going back to practice an old lesson, and this is the first time I remember this coming up. One question though, I understand that "Nous sommes en" translates to "We are in" but what does "On est" translate to? It will help me remember if I understand the context.

[LyleA876]

"On est" is also "we are." The difference arises, I think, from the fact that "we" can mean a collection of individual people, a plural, or we as in a single unit or group made of individuals, a singular. In the case where "we" is singular, you would treat as such, hence "on est"

I'm no expert though...

[sumedhborkar]

Why cannot it be "C'est Janvier?"

[Jacinta290258]

How can it's January be s the same with we are in January.....are there people looking into these complains really?

[Lekannn]

I'm really confused fam.

[miki395996]

Nous sommes en janvier the sentence does not make sense

[Cheryl886398]

Duo can you help please? We all think this is incorrect!

[LyleA876]

I think a direct translation would be "We are in January." Which would seem to be an idiomatic expression for, it's January.

[maz521820]

I agree

[blackcarrera]

Nous sommes en janvier = We are in January?????? Non?

I put C'est le Janvier and it was marked incorrect.

[Maria178063]

I've already done this lesson and am reviewing material. This is the first time I've seen this turn of phrase. What gives?

[ScottFerson]

Is the en required?

[Lolipopka_7]

In Croatian we use something similar, like "we are in January", so I think it's a phrasing issue.

[TheBobAscends]

Agreed. If it's a phrasing issue, please add an explanation. Otherwise it seems incorrect

[Murray829095]

Not a good example ... redefine this one or state as "we are in January"

[NikitaSing836534]

Yes this needs explanation. How is nous sommes en janvier correct?

[jennie.mel]

This expression has never once come up in the 52 days i've been doing lessons, which is weird because this is a "correct your mistakes" lesson too. Not a good example without teaching idioms first.

[neeta571539]

My answer:
c'est janvier, wasn't accepted.
It seems no explanation is given to the querries raised by other learners
I would request duo team to add show tip

[Ryan354346]

Is this something the French say that doesn't translate well into English? Idiomatic?

[Sucy-en-Brie94]

C'est janvier. Accepted :)

[Bill435211]

This is totally wrong "it is" does not translate to "we ....."

[PetraKolkman]

The words that you can choose, are not corresponding with this sentence

[Glenn69884]

I wrote in "C'est Janiver" and it was accepted
29/1/21

[Pete853347]

Nous sommes en janvier means we are in January and not it is January. I do not understand.
If this is just a turn of phrase surely we should be warned about that and not just told we have the wrong answer.