- Forum >
- Topic: French >
- "Il est trop tôt."
47 Comments
"he is too early" means that he has arrived before due time.
To translate it to French, you have to pay attention to the fact that "early" has two distinct translations in French:
- as an adverb, "early" = "tôt", to modify a verb in such sentences as "il est tôt" (it is early), "le train arrive tôt" (the train arrives early), etc., ie with dummy subject "it/il".
- as an adjective, to describe/qualify a real subject, you need to adjust to the fact that "tôt" cannot be used. You will have to use an adverbial phrase instead: "he is early" = il est en avance; "the train is early" = le train est en avance.
The same applies to "late":
- "il est tard" (late in the day) = it is late - "le train arrive tard" = the train arrives late
- "he/she is late" (behind schedule) = il/elle est en retard - "the train is late" = le train arrive en retard
1078
Sitesurf, there is actually a conflicting argument here (https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/2105078) for the example "C'est trop tard.", where it is implied that because "tard" is an adjective in that example, you use "il est" for people and "c'est" for things/situations. In this case "tôt" is the adjective, how does that example not apply here?
Both "tôt" and "tard" are adverbs.
And both "il est trop tôt/tard" and "c'est trop tôt/tard" are acceptable.
When someone or something is "early" or "late", other words are used: "en avance" or "en retard", both being adverbial phrases.
- Le train / tu es... en avance ("en" is a preposition and "avance" is a noun).
- Le train / tu es... en retard ("en" is a preposition and "retard" is a noun).
336
Bientôt = Soon /// Early = Tôt
I think you have a pretty good picture with that idea to when to use one or the other
"Far" is an addition on your part that would require something like « beaucoup » in the French. Also, just as with « il est tard » (it is late) vs « il est en retard » (he is late), to say that he is early (ahead of schedule), I believe you want to use « en avance », with « il est (trop) tôt » reserved for the impersonal case.
1078
If one were to say "C'est trop en advance." would that mean "It is too far ahead."? Likewise, "C'est trop en retard." would mean "It is too far behind."?
1152
google translate says "he is too early" translates to this phrase. I see that it used to be accepted. Very confusing. I duolingo doesn't like google translate so what is another web site that can be used?
Google Translate is often wrong when it comes to full sentences, even short ones.
He is too early = Il est trop en avance (personal).
It is too early = Il est trop tôt (impersonal).
By the way, this has been explained several times already on this page, so please, next time, read the thread before repeating others' questions.
1805
Have you considered that Google Translate may not have mastered this lesson (or many others) yet?
147
OK then if "Il" is "it" (and only "it") in this instance. What would be the mechanism for saying "He is too early"? By my reckoning it is the exactly same sentence, and should therefore accepted.