"À ce moment-là" or "En ce temps-là" in French. Which means "at the time"?

[@Hovhannissian11]

C’est intéressant de regarder la vidéo sur ces deux locutions. Je me permets d’apporter quelques commentaires. Je pense que c’est rare d’entendre « en ce temps-là » dans la langue de tous les jours, on entend plus souvent « à cette époque-là » comme tu l’as très bien mentionné dans la vidéo. Si je devais expliquer la différence majeure entre « à ce moment-là » et « en ce temps-là » j’aurais plus mis l’accent sur le fait que la première signifie « à cet instant précis » (peu importe quand l’événement s’est produit, il y a un an, 5 ans, ou bien 50 ans) tandis que la deuxième signifie « durant l’époque dont on parle ». Je peux très bien dire « Cela s’est passé le 3 avril 1995. Il se trouve qu’à ce moment-là j’étais malade » . Et quand je veux dire « durant l’époque dont je parle », je vais utiliser « en ce temps-là »: Ex: « En ce temps-là, être malade signifiait s’isoler pendant 10 jours pour éviter toute contamination possible». Il faut savoir que la locution adverbiale « à ce moment-là » a aussi un autre sens, plutôt familier, quand on l’utilise pour dire « dans ce cas-là ». Ex: « Si le marché est fermé ce samedi, à ce moment là, on ira chez le primeur ». « A ce moment-là, il vaut mieux prendre le bus de 14h ». En espérant que mes explications soient assez limpides.

[@BGTuyau]

More concise yet comprehensive clarifications from a superb teacher ...

[@drmichaelelinski6992]

À cette époque-là = en ce temps-là, peut-être on peut penser à l’équivalence de ces deux expressions. J’aime tes expression «à l’époque » et «à cette époque-là». Merci pour des astuces utiles. Ta chaîne et toi me plaisent beaucoup !

[@richardbrinkerhoff]

The prepositions à and en also give you an idea that one is more recent than the other.

[@stanleyemanuelson8330]

I liked this video a lot!

[@melissalyons6936]

I’ve learned so much useful information from you! My husband is French but we live in the US and I’ve been struggling for years to learn French. Since we live in the US life just always gets in the way of me studying and practicing. Your videos keep me motivated. But I have one little comment: I asked my husband if you say J’avais peur, he explained that you’d say J’ai peur if it’s a ce moment because j’avais is past tense not now. But he says you have amazing French anyhow so keep up the great content!

[@lindagarmy8435]

J’entends “à cette époque-la” souvent. Merci!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Je t'en prie Linda. Merci pour ton commentaire :)

[@watchrepairwithchris4346]

Merci

[@FredKongo]

Salut! Je suis un super-fan en Australie. Le content est bien utile.

[@jonathanavila9644]

Very informative 👍 That Freudian slip though 😁

[@brian423]

Thank you so much! I came here in my search for an adverbial expression to cue the imperfect tense on my flashcards. You provided "à l'époque". Now I hope to find one for the passé composé. EDIT: Now I think I'll use "une situation passée" or "une habitude passée" for the imperfect and "un événement passé" for the passé composé.

[@JRSOLO1974]

Thank you so much, Sir...for this lesson.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You're welcome!

[@JulietRichards-hd7nv]

very helpful!! Thank you! :)

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Glad it was helpful Juliet!

[@drmichaelelinski6992]

Merci d’avoir partagé tes connaissances en français. Tu m’aides beaucoup. Je suis content d’avoir trouvé ta chaîne KZbin, il y a quelques jours.

[@sallyhodder2426]

Sooo helpful. As ever 🥰

[@janetarrowsmith1077]

Thank you I have encountered agi these phrases and I did not realise the nuances in meaning. I belong to. French religious Congregation and we have many discussions covering different periods of time and I realise I have missed many meanings in those discussions as I ran most of these into one meaning, in the past, really meaning the distant passed. Thank you once again. Sr. Janet

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You're welcome Janet. Are you in France?

[@janetarrowsmith1077]

@@FrenchinPlainSight I am being posted to our foundation Community in Gaillac near Toulouse. I hope to be able to go there end May or early June. I have studies in Spirituality and we want to make the house a centre to help people discover the touch of God in their lives. For me that is what Sprituality is. I really enjoy your videos and I am learning a lot. I listened to your video on getting you permission to stay and work in France. I am not sure what hoops I will have Togo through as I will not be in paid work and we are a French Congregation. If the Lord really wants me there He will sort it out. I have just come back from the first Easter Mass, curtailed because of Covid but my first time in the Chuerch since Christmas Eve because I am diabetic and sheilding. Have a lovely Easter, I will pray for and your lovely partner. (Sister) Janet

[@alannohlgren]

So many useful précisions. Thank you for clarifying a murky area. I did find one of your examples to be in error, possibly. You give the example "A ce moment là j'avais peur". That phrase suggests a precise moment in time, such as an approaching accident or some other peril. It seems to me you'd want to say "A ce moment là j'ai eu peur", non? What do you think?

[@mackjay1777]

What about "à présent"? for "right now"? And I agree with others who hear "à l'époque" quite often. It's interesting because "epoch" in English would never be used this way: it denotes a long period in the very distant past

[@Qbe_Root]

"époque" can mean that (as in "l'époque médiévale") but we also use it more loosely

[@andreacathyannbasso-mcgill703]

Do you ever go LIVE ?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I have a few times but not for a while.

[@DeborahBoily]

ALEX, what about "en moment doner"? How to use this phrase?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I think you mean "à un moment donné". Think of it as "at some point" and its literal translation "at a given moment/time". Think about sentences using the English counterparts and you should be on the right track. Feel free to reply with some if it helps.

[@timotheelegrincheux2204]

"en ce temps-là" could be translated as "(back) in those days" or "back then."

[@_melts]

Merci Alex ! Est-ce que vous n'avez pas un Patreon ?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

De rien Mel :). Non, mais j'ai un Ko-Fi qui est similaire. Vous pouvez voir les différents moyens de me soutenir sur mon site : frenchinplainsight.com/support-me/

[@ms.alexis_15]

I saw your last video on order of le les leur en y with helping verb and compound verb... i have a question on that... where do you put the le les leur en y if it is in question form ? ...

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

The order doesn't change. Tu peux le lui donner ? Est-ce que tu peux le lui donner ? Peux-tu le lui donner ? (I never use this form so I'd be bad at it when speaking but it's the most formal). Do you have a specific question that you want to analyse/make?

[@ms.alexis_15]

@@FrenchinPlainSight none. Thank you for the reply.

[@ms.alexis_15]

@@FrenchinPlainSight i have another question.. is it le singe lui se moque? Or le singe se moque de lui?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

@@ms.alexis_15 The second one 🙂. If in doubt, search the verb in WordReference. There's usually one definition showing the preposition (if any) before the object. www.wordreference.com/fren/se%20moquer%20de%20qqn

[@ms.alexis_15]

@@FrenchinPlainSight thank you so much. More power to your vlog. It helps people so much .

[@andr386]

Moi je dirais "l'année dernière; à la même période".

[@ericlind6581]

Les français me corrigent quand je dis « en ce temps là ». « à l’époque là » est plus correcte.

[@theboyfromxtown]

Alex...I thought you said at 42 seconds ..skin up! lol All very useful information. Excellent!

[@Dakta96]

honestly if you want accurate French translations, use DeepL and Linguee