Jour vs journée

Certain units of time in French have both a masculine and feminine form. You may have come across the following words, and wondered what the difference is.

• an/année = year
• jour/journée = day
• matin/matinée = morning
• soir/soirée = evening

This can be confusing to native speakers of English, which doesn’t have this distinction (although that’s partly why words such as matinée and soirée have entered the language as loanwords, while the English word ‘journey’ comes from the French journée, in the sense of ‘a day’s travel’).

The masculine form

When we use the masculine forms of these words, we are referring to a specific point in time, or using time as a measurement.

Elle a quarante-cinq ans = She is forty-five years old

Il y a sept jours dans une semaine = There are seven days in a week

Je travaille le matin = I work in the morning

Ils regardent la télévision le soir = They watch TV in the evening

The feminine form

When we use the feminine forms of these words, however, we are referring to a unit of time in its duration.

Elle a beaucoup voyagé pendant son année sabbatique - She travelled a lot during her gap year

Il dort pendant la journée - He sleeps during the day

Ma mère était au téléphone toute la matinée - My mother was on the telephone all morning

Passe une bonne soirée ! - Have a good evening!

For more information on the differences on these nouns, check out Alexa’s past live lesson on the subject.