An/jour/matin/soir vs 
année/journée/matinée/soirée

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Somewhat synonyms

French has two words for each of the following: year, day, morning, and evening, and they cause no end of difficulties for non-native speakers. Why is it that English can get away with one word for each of these temporal markers when French needs two? The answer lies in how you look at them.

Each word pair includes a short, masculine word and a longer, feminine word. The latter is little more than the former with the suffix –ée tacked on:

year		un an		une année
day		un jour		une journée
morning		un matin		une matinée
evening		un soir		une soirée

An, jour, matin, soir

The masculine terms are what I like to call division words or quantity words: they express a simple unit of time.

Par exemple…

J’habite en Guadeloupe depuis deux ans et demi.		I’ve lived in Guadeloupe for two and half years.
J’ai passé trois jours en Italie.		I spent three days in Italy.
Je travaille chaque matin.		I work every morning.
Je me couche à 22h le soir.		I go to bed at 10 in the evening.

Année, journée, matinée, soirée

In contrast, the feminine words with –ée are duration or quality words: they emphasize the length of time.

Par exemple…

Pendant la première année, je cherchais une maison.		For the first year, I looked for a house.
J’ai passé trois journées à manger.		I spent three days eating.
Après une matinée de travail, j’aime me promener.		After a morning of work, I like to go for a walk.
Je passe mes soirées à lire.		I spend my evenings reading.

 Quantity vs Quality

There are rules about when to use each type of word, and with rules come exceptions.

Division / quantity words are used with

1) Numbers

Il a voyagé pendant cinq jours.		He traveled for five days.
Ils sont fiancés depuis 10 ans.		They’ve been engaged for 10 years.

But! you can use duration words for emphasis:

Six journées, pas cinq.		Six days, not five.
Dix années, c’est incroyable !		10 years, that’s amazing!

2) Adverbs of time

hier matin		yesterday morning
demain soir		tomorrow night

3) Demonstrative adjectives

Ce jour où je t’ai vu.		That day I saw you.
Je pars ce matin et lui, ce soir.		I’m leaving this morning and he’s leaving this evening.

But! when talking about the current year, use année.

J’ai beaucoup appris cet an.	vs	I learned a lot that year.
Je vais en France cette année.		I’m going to France this year.

Duration / quality words are used with

1) Interrogative adjectives

quelle journée ?		which day?
en quelle année ?		in which year?

But! not when asking which day of the week

Quel jour sommes-nous ?		What day is it?
Quel jour as-tu congé ?		What day do you have off?

2) Most other types of adjectives …

une belle matinée		a beautiful morning
plusieurs années		several years

… including when there’s a number plus an adjective:

nos deux années ensemble		our two years together
ces cinq journées		those five days

But! watch out for tout, which has different functions and meanings depending on which type of word it’s used with.

tous les jours, tous les soirs (tous is an indefinite adjective here)	vs	every day, every evening
toute la journée, toute la soirée (toute is an indefinite pronoun here)		all day, all evening

3) De + noun (often equivalent to an adjective)

journées d’émeute		days of rioting
une soirée de gala		gala night

 But! all that said, an and année often ignore the above rules.

l’an prochain l’année prochaine		next year
l’an dernier l’année dernière		last year

Related lessons

• Adjectives
• Adverbs of time
• Days of the week
• De
• Numbers
• Suffix –ée
• Tout
• Years in French

 French expressions with

• An or année
• Jour or journée
• Matin or matinée
• Soir or soirée

 There is a fifth word pair: la nuit / la nuitée, but it doesn’t follow the above patterns. Une nuit = "night" in all senses except when referring to a night in the tourism industry, which is une nuitée.

Par exemple…

J’ai passé une journée et une nuit à Barcelone.		I spent one day and night in Barcelona.
Une nuitée coûte 80 euros.		One night [in this hotel] costs 80 euros.

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