Killing Temps

Killing time in French doesn't have anything to do with murder.

My weekly French lesson usually start outs with or ends up with questions about the past. In the beginning it was an easy oui or non answer to the equally easy question: Tu as passé un bon week-end ? Now that I've had more than 80 lessons the questions are essay and I do essayer my best!

Qu'est-ce que tu as fait la semaine dernière ?

I want to answer that I spent time with some new acquaintances and begin saying "j'ai passé le temps avec"

"j'ai passé DU temps avec" my French teacher interrupts to correct me. "Du temps, to spend some time with" she clarifies. "Le temps in this case means to kill some time with".

'Oh,' I stand enlightened but not corrected. Thinking back to what I did that past weekend it is more truthful to say I killed time with my new acquaintances.

If you're interested in killing time and learning French: hang out with l'inspecteur Roger Duflair: www.polarfle.com


Tu as passé un bon week-end?
Did you have a good weekend?
essayer to try
Qu'est-ce que tu as fait la semaine dernière?
What did you do last weekend?
J'ai passé le temps avec... I killed some time with...
J'ai passé du temps avec... I spent some time with
meurtre murder
tuer to kill/murder
le temps (concept) time
inspecteur inspector


La photo: One of two figureheads from the French sailing barque Marie Elise, shipwrecked near Ryspunt, South Africa in 1877. Now located at Cape Agulhas, Africa's southernmost tip where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet. Octubre 2007.