{"id":118466,"date":"2023-07-28T18:16:52","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T22:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/difference-between-quand-and-lorsque\/"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:02:08","slug":"difference-between-quand-and-lorsque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/difference-between-quand-and-lorsque\/","title":{"rendered":"Lorsque vs. Quand: What is the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A simple French expression that you will need to express time and time again is “when.”\u00a0However, look that up in your dictionary and you might be surprised at the length of sub-entries explaining all the translation possibilities<\/a> and usage requirements.<\/p>\n

Two of the main translations of “when” are quand\u00a0<\/em>and lorsque<\/em>, which take center stage in this post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Uses of Quand<\/em><\/h2>\n

This is the most common word you will use for “when.” Here are three situations in which you will use\u00a0quand<\/em>:<\/p>\n

As an interrogative word to form questions<\/h3>\n

Quand<\/strong> est-ce que vous avez rendez-vous ?
\n<\/i>(When<\/strong> do you have an\u00a0appointment?)<\/p>\n

C’est quand<\/strong> la fin du monde ?
\n<\/em>(When<\/strong> is the end of the world?)<\/p>\n

To say when things happen<\/h3>\n

Je dormais quand<\/strong> il est arriv\u00e9.
\n<\/em>(I was sleeping when<\/strong> he arrived.)<\/p>\n

Dis-moi quand<\/strong> tu arriveras.<\/em>
\n(Tell me when<\/strong> you arrive.)<\/p>\n

For drawing contrasts<\/h3>\n

Pourquoi dormir quand<\/strong> la f\u00eate bat son plein\u00a0?
\n<\/em>(Why sleep when<\/strong> the party is in full swing?)<\/p>\n

In this third situation here, you may also hear alors que<\/em>\u00a0used instead.<\/p>\n

The Uses of Lorsque<\/em><\/h2>\n

This word can sometimes sound\u00a0a bit more formal and even stiff, although you will still hear it in conversation<\/a>. I hear it often on (the excellent) RFI podcasts<\/a>, when an expert is holding\u00a0forth on an issue of philosophical or international importance.<\/p>\n

Note that lorsque<\/em>\u00a0is not used like the first use of\u00a0quand<\/em> above, to ask questions about when something happens. But it does have some overlapping uses.<\/p>\n

To say when things happen<\/h3>\n

Same as #2 for quand.<\/em><\/p>\n

Je dormais lorsque<\/strong> le monsieur\u00a0est arriv\u00e9.
\n<\/em><\/em>(I was sleeping when<\/strong> the man\u00a0arrived.)<\/p>\n

Dites-moi lorsque<\/strong>\u00a0vous arriverez.<\/em>
\n(Tell me when<\/strong> you (formal) arrive.)<\/p>\n

To draw contrasts<\/h3>\n

Same as #3 for quand<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On a raison de ne pas voter lorsqu’il<\/strong> faut une r\u00e9volution<\/em>.
\n(We are right to not vote when<\/strong> a revolution is needed.)<\/p>\n

Note that many\u00a0speakers prefer\u00a0quand<\/em> <\/strong>for the use above, particularly in spoken French.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0some,\u00a0lorsque<\/em> gives a sense of “at the moment when.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the above is considered correct.<\/p>\n

As you can also see in the above example,\u00a0lorsque<\/em>\u00a0loses its final “e” when\u00a0the following word starts with a vowel or a mute “h,”<\/a> being replaced by an apostrophe. This is obligatory.<\/p>\n

The Use of \u00c0\u00a0Quelle Heure<\/em><\/h2>\n

\u00c0 quelle heure<\/strong><\/em> is the equivalent of “at what time” and it’s used to ask questions. It’s common to use this phrase for talking about the time<\/a> that something happens in French (whereas in English we would often just say “when”).<\/p>\n

\u00c0 quelle heure<\/strong> est le rendez-vous ?
\n<\/em>(At what time\/when<\/strong> is the meeting?)<\/p>\n

\u00c0 quelle heure<\/strong> on fait la f\u00eate ?<\/em>
\n(At what time\/when<\/strong> do we party?)<\/p>\n

Remember that while\u00a0quand<\/em>\u00a0can certainly refer to time, it can be better to\u00a0use this more precise phrase when you want to ask about the actual time<\/strong> that something is happening.<\/p>\n

Posing the question with just\u00a0quand<\/em> will sometimes get you the day but not the hour. French people are not purposely trying to frustrate you with this, they just tend to think of quand<\/i> as referring more to the day that something happens rather than the time.<\/p>\n

More Common Quand<\/em> Variants<\/h2>\n

Quand m\u00eame<\/em><\/h3>\n

This is very common and also rather tricky for French learners. Its meanings can be something like “even if,” “even though,” “all the same” or “even so.”<\/p>\n

C’\u00e9tait bien, mais j’\u00e9tais quand m\u00eame<\/strong> fatigu\u00e9.<\/em>
\n(It was good, even though<\/strong>\u00a0I was tired.)<\/p>\n

C’\u00e9tait quand m\u00eame<\/strong> bien.
\n<\/em>(It was good even so<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

Il est venu quand m\u00eame<\/strong>.<\/em>
\n(He came anyway<\/strong>.) \u2014 Perhaps in spite of not being invited, for example.<\/p>\n

It can also just be an intensifier.<\/p>\n

C’est bon, tu peux quand m\u00eame<\/strong> te taire.
\n<\/em>(Okay, you can just shut up.)<\/p>\n

Mais quand m\u00eame<\/strong> !<\/em>
\n(Oh god, enough already!\/That’s shocking!)<\/p>\n

N’importe quand<\/em><\/h3>\n

This literally translates to “not important when,” but often can be best translated as “anytime.”<\/p>\n

\u00c7a peut arriver n’importe quand<\/strong>.
\n<\/i>(This can happen anytime<\/strong>\/whenever.)<\/p>\n

Incidentally, your other French question words<\/a> can be combined with n’importe\u00a0<\/em>in the same way. So you can be just as carefree with what\/who\/where\/etc.: n’importe quoi<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/i>(anything), n’importe qui<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(anyone), n’importe o\u00f9<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(anywhere), etc.<\/p>\n

Practice: Talking about when things happen in French<\/h2>\n

At this point, you should have a pretty clear understanding of the main uses for quand<\/em>,\u00a0lorsque<\/em>\u00a0and their siblings, but all of that is worthless if you can’t correctly employ the words in context. In particular, it’s useful to practice the more nebulous uses, like\u00a0quand m\u00eame<\/em> as an intensifier\u2014you eventually have to hear and use it enough that you just get a feel for it.<\/p>\n

Here are some ways you can practice the uses above. I’m assuming that you are already designing your own language lessons with a teacher or a language exchange partner; if you don’t have one, you should of course get one online<\/a>! There are plenty of apps<\/a> you can use to find one!<\/p>\n

First of all, you can try out quand<\/em>. This is an opportunity to practice not just forming questions, but also to use whatever tenses you have been recently working on<\/a>. For example, if you have recently learned the past tense<\/a>, you can transform the first example question above to ask your partner:<\/p>\n

Quand<\/strong> est-ce que vous avez eu rendez-vous ? <\/i>(When<\/strong> did you have an\u00a0appointment?)<\/p>\n

Then you can ask your partner other things about when things happened in the past, such as:<\/p>\n