"What day is tomorrow?"

Translation:Quel jour sommes-nous demain ?

December 22, 2012

23 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LoZotico

What is the problem with "quel jour est-il demain?"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SigniorGratiano

This has been asked a lot, so I'm going to go ahead and paste Northernguy's explanation right here at the top.

"The French regard the day that they are in as a shared experience not some arbitrarily defined situation. Therefore they are in a day, they are experiencing a day.

English speakers refer to the day as if it is something tangible, external to them, that it is Friday and cannot be anything else. English speakers do this even though they are aware that other cultures have a different number of days in a year, divide the year into groupings that are different from what we call months and weeks, use different names for their day classification system. Even within the English speaking culture we recognize that someone on one side of the international date line will say that it is Friday and on the other side they are equally positive it is Saturday.

The French puts more emphasis on the experience of the day. The English puts the emphasis on the label."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Camerican

Interesting the literal english equivalent of "Quel jour sommes-nous demain?" is "What day are we tomorrow?"

Can we list out some other valid ways to ask this? For example: "Est-ce quel jour à demain?"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/anomalocaris

"Est-ce quel jour à demain" doesn't really work. "Est-ce" is only used with "que," not any of the other question words, and "à" usually means "to." You could try saying "Quel jour est demain" but that might sound weird to a French person. You could also say "Est-ce que demain est vendredi" for "Is tomorrow Friday?" "Quel jour sommes-nous demain" is the normal way to ask this question in French, even if it does sound weird to us.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/sonironi

Would it be okay to say Quel jour est-on demain?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/eclairevoyant

It's accepted now, yes.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LauraMarti120603

What about, "Demain, c'est quel jour?"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/erling.fas

This is such a strange sentence when translated directly


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SigniorGratiano

Northernguy's explanation is long so I won't copy it a third time, but glance around for it!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Papastachio

why is "Quel jour est demain" wrong?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LeandroNun13

Why not Quel jour est demain?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SigniorGratiano

Northernguy explained it beautifully:

"The French regard the day that they are in as a shared experience not some arbitrarily defined situation. Therefore they are in a day, they are experiencing a day.

English speakers refer to the day as if it is something tangible, external to them, that it is Friday and cannot be anything else. English speakers do this even though they are aware that other cultures have a different number of days in a year, divide the year into groupings that are different from what we call months and weeks, use different names for their day classification system. Even within the English speaking culture we recognize that someone on one side of the international date line will say that it is Friday and on the other side they are equally positive it is Saturday.

The French puts more emphasis on the experience of the day. The English puts the emphasis on the label."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JagMicker1

Why is it "quel" and not "que"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SigniorGratiano

In case you didn't see YahyaZuhair's comment below: "The French use 'quel' rather than 'que' when speaking about time."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/mindLibre3001

also use "quel jour est-ce demain"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/nomnie50

why can't one say quelle journee?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GuimaraesEmerson

a little confused to me: "Quel" or "Que" like "Que jour sommes-nous demain?" It seems the same, or I am wrong. could someone give me a tip!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/YahyaZuhair

The French use 'quel' rather than 'que' when speaking about time.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/_-julia-_

It gives options but none are the real ones!!! How is "what day is tomorrow" translated to " quel jour sommes nous demain"??


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/northernguy

-julia-

Your question is answered elsewhere on this page.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SongbirdSandra

Jour is masculine, so we use quel.
Journée is feminine and used with quelle.

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