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- "Parfois je dors le matin."
49 Comments
I heard this as "parfois j'adore le matin". Where's the difference in pronunciation?
"J'adore" would have had a definite 'ah' sound as opposed to the short 'e' in "je dors".
what's wrong with "sometimes i sleep in the morningS"? doesn't 'le matin' imply that it is more than one instance, in which case plural should be accepted, no?
"Matin" is singular. In English you would say "sometimes I sleep in the morning," not "in the mornings." The plural is implied.
I disagree - both are acceptable in English. "In the mornings I sleep" sounds perfectly natural.
I agree with you. It would be perfectly natural to say "in the mornings" in English in the context of it being a habitual thing that you did
You are right. They are both acceptable in English, but in this example it is singular. Otherwise it should have been "les matins".
I wondered why to say"sleep in the morning" just as "dormir le matin". I thought maybe it needs like "a" or other word to indicate "in". I mean, if I want to translate "Sometimes I sleep in the morning.", I would put a word between "dors" and "le". Anyone could give me a reason why there is no need for "in" in this sentence?
In English we use prepositions to say 'in' the morning/afternoon/evening/summer/winter, 'at' night/the weekend etc In French there is no need to due this and it is just le matin/l'apres-midi/le soir/la nuit/le weekend.
Well, that is just the way it is with the times of the day. Par exemple, you would say: " tout le monde dort la nuit " meaning " everyone sleeps at night "
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There's actually a better, more idiomatic expression for that: faire la grasse matinée ("to do the fat morning"). It specifically means "to sleep in". So, using it in this example: Parfois je fais la grasse matinée.
Hi Sitesurf: could "Sometimes I sleep mornings" not work? We have that same construction for "I walk mornings" Je marche le matin. It can be translated also: "I walk in the mornings" but "in the" can be left out in English and very often, if not usually, is left out.
Yes. That sentence has a completely different meaning.
Sometimes I sleep in the morning = Parfois je dors le martin.
Sometimes I sleep through the morning = Parfois je dors a travers le matin.
The first sentence could imply that someone went to sleep in the morning. Whereas the second sentence implies that a person would sometimes not wake up in the morning, at all.
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je = I dors = sleep le matin = the morning
Where does the "in" come from?
So why wouldn't it be "au matin" or "dans le matin"?
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It's just how French speakers say it; it's a grammar rule. Putting the definite article « le » before a time of day or day of the week signifies a repeated action. Examples:
Je me suis promené ce matin. = I went for a walk this morning ; Je me promène le matin. = I go for a walk in the mornings (every morning).
On se verra ce soir. = We'll see each other tonight ; On se voit le soir. = We see each other in the evenings (every evening).
Nos grands-parents ont joué au badminton dimanche dernier. = Our grandparents played badminton last Sunday ; Nos grands-parents jouent encore au badminton le dimanche. = Our grandparents still play badminton on Sundays (every Sunday).
Je déteste le lundi. = I hate Mondays (every Monday).
Thank you for the explanation. I understand how the definite article means that it is a reglarly repeated action, but the 'parfois' in this case confused me - you can't do something both regularly and sometimes!
"Faire la grasse matinee" is an expression that means "to sleep in," but they don't seem to be looking for that idiom.
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Remember that it is one word: quelquefois. Parfois and quelquefois are synonyms, so it doesn't matter which you use, although parfois is more common.
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They form what is called in phonology a 'minimal pair', only being off by one phoneme: je dors = /ʒə.dɔʁ/ (usually pronounced as /ʒø.dɔʁ/) ; j'adore = /ʒa.dɔʁ/.
That cute and kind of hilarious. "Ma foi!" is an old-fashioned exclamation meaning "my faith!" "Ma foie!" means "my liver!"
I toke it to mean "Sometimes I sleep in." I think that mabye in this case it should be right
It can be the meaning, but not the translation.
to sleep in = faire la grasse matinée
"Occasionnellement" or more simply: "de temps en temps, de temps à autre, parfois, quelquefois".
Sooo, I suppose the translation: "Sometimes I sleep in in the morning." is just not good English? "Sleep in" would be on its own, so to speak, like: Are you going to sleep in tomorrow?
There's nothing wrong with your sentence grammatically, but I think you are right that "to sleep in" already implies "in the morning" and therefore "to sleep in in the morning" sounds a bit redundant. Aside from that, I think the sentence "Parfois je dors le matin" just translates to "Sometimes I sleep in the morning," as in, "Usually I sleep at night but sometimes I sleep in the morning." To "sleep in" has a specialized meaning, namely, to deliberately sleep later than you usually do. I wouldn't assume that idea is implied by "dormir" by itself. If I had to guess, I would say that would be "Parfois je dors tard le matin."
@rollingstock and @Judy630271
Yes indeed. "Sleep in" means to sleep longer than usual or "to have a lie in".
French has a specific phrase for this - "faire la grasse matinée" ;).
I am confused. This sentence could imply that you go to bed and then wake up at midnight. I mean, most people sleep in the mornings unless they work night shifts. Come on Duo, present us with sentences that can be useful in the short term.
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I don't think sentences necessarily need to be useful for us to learn useful things. However this is a strange sentence so I assumed it could be translated as "Sometimes I sleep all morning" but this was rejected. I'm interested to know if that actually is a validf translation.
When I had this sentence, the other way, English to French, Duo would not accept "matin." It wanted "matinée, which I accepted as correct, but now that they use "matin," I am confused.
This is a poorly worded question and/or answer. English speakers would either say:
"Sometimes I sleep in in the morning" or "Some mornings I sleep in."
It's not technically wrong, but I can hardly think of a circumstance where it would be used unless someone working night shifts said it.
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No, actually your translations convey a different meaning than this sentence. Parfois je dors le matin means "Sometimes I sleep in (during) the morning (as opposed to other times of the day, like the afternoon, evening, or night)." This is exactly what a person occasionally working the graveyard shift would say.
Your sentences, "Sometimes I sleep in in the morning" and "Some mornings I sleep in" are actually translated by the idiom faire la grasse matinée 'to sleep in (late)'. Parfois je fais la grasse matinée means what you typed. All that means is that you sleep later into the morning than usual.
