"It is January."
Translation:Nous sommes en janvier.
54 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
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]
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.
"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...
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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.
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How can it's January be s the same with we are in January.....are there people looking into these complains really?
I think a direct translation would be "We are in January." Which would seem to be an idiomatic expression for, it's January.
Nous sommes en janvier = We are in January?????? Non?
I put C'est le Janvier and it was marked incorrect.
I've already done this lesson and am reviewing material. This is the first time I've seen this turn of phrase. What gives?
they often suddenly drop in some construction or idiom that does not go along with the previous info we have been given.
Agreed. If it's a phrasing issue, please add an explanation. Otherwise it seems incorrect
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In Croatian we use something similar, like "we are in January", so I think it's a phrasing issue.
In English we say We are in January or It is January to mean nearly the same thing, but they are two different sentences.
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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
Duo, please include this in the tips and not assume we will be familiar with this particular quirk.
Is this something the French say that doesn't translate well into English? Idiomatic?
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.
so "We are in January" is the same as "It is January?" I was at a loss. I was looking to be able to type "C'est janvier."
it just doen't make sense. In spanish one can say. 'Es Enero' and 'estamos en Enero'. In English one can say 'it is January' and 'we are in January'. It is absurd! The exercise should say 'we are in January'
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Why are you assuming that languages are the same? You must have already come across "j'ai trente ans" even though we don't say "I have 30 years" in English. However, the more obvious "c'est janvier" is also accepted here.
It might be correct idiomatic French to say nous sommes en janvier but that doesn't mean c'est janvier isn't widely understood and accepted.
You can say in french, en février, c'est l'hiver en France but you can't say, c'est le janvier
