Question of time(s)

I suppose there is no harm in indulging in a bit of nostalgia now and again. I must say that it often hits me while writing pieces for this blog. Thinking about the things I teach kind of takes me back to my school days. And I shamelessly do enjoy a bit of dawdling, which is the privilege of time – and as we know, time privileges are scarce. So. About time(s)…

There was this rime that I must have learnt sometime around CE1 (Cours élémentaire première année, at around 7):

As you may have guessed, all the “foi” words occurring in the rime, may they end with a “s”, a “e”, a “x” or nothing, all sound exactly the same. The aim of the rime was to try and learn once and for all which was which. Mind you, I still have to think twice (deux fois) when writing the word foie because the “e” at the end of LE foie, which is masculine, still makes my faith (which is MA foi, feminine but without final "e") in the French language falter… Thank God, Foix being a proper noun is neither masculine nor feminine. And it's a lovely place.

Time’s fault

Having sing-sung this rime countless times (fois), I sometimes (parfois) forget that the fois which may look like the rime’s easiest word to a native French speaker can actually be pretty troublesome for English speakers. One could indeed get easily tempted into using the word temps instead of fois, as temps is another possible translation of time.

For example, one could mistakenly say « J’ai appelé Lisa 3 *temps ce matin, mais elle n’a pas répondu pas. » (“I called Lisa 3 times this morning, but she didn’t answer.”)

Nothing to do with grammar or vocabulary, will the tired teacher comment with no small amount of bad faith (mauvaise foi). It’s all time’s fault, that’s what it is.

"Time" which in English can both indicate a vague time span like in “a long time” (longtemps) or an action pinpointed in time from one single occurrence (once, one time) to numerous repetitions, as in “I’ve seen this film 17 times” (17 fois).

Simply put, this is the “times” of times tables, which is “fois” :

Here are a few more examples:

I just had time to get my umbrella before it started to rain.
J’ai juste eu le temps de chercher mon parapluie avant qu’il se mette à pleuvoir.

(Time’s fault!)

I’d like more time to finish this job.
Je voudrais plus de temps pour finir ce travail.

(Time’s fault !)

I’ve lost my keys 3 times this morning!
J’ai perdu mes clés 3 fois ce matin !

… or could it just be a question of space?

I lost my umbrella a long time ago. When? You know, the time we went on that walk by the river…
J’ai perdu mon parapluie il y a longtemps. Quand ? Tu sais, la fois où on s’est promenés au bord de la rivière.

With this last example, I’d like to draw your attention to the “où” in la fois où… Yes, a preposition of place following a time expression.

Hum… still time’s fault.

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