Alors, ce matin-là ....

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Alors, ce matin-là ....

Why is ce matin-là preferable to cette matinée and why is the latter not acceptable?  I thought that if you wanted emphasis on the morning, you would use matinée vice matin.  I realize that the là added to matin certainly adds the focus, but why is cette matinée not given as another possibility.   As you may have already surmised, I struggle with these masculine / feminine forms for morning, day, evening, year, etc. despite having reviewed the lesson.  Thanks for your guidance in advance.

Asked 2 years ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Frank,

In French, you will always use "ce matin-là" and not "cette matinée-là".  An example with "ce matin-là" has been added in the lesson too. So apart from "cette année-là", you always use "matin, soir, jour"

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Frank,

As I see it, if we were reflecting on a series of past continuous actions during a period (say) 08:00 to 12:00 then to refer to the morning period we could use matinée.

But this story is speculating on an event yet to occur - a future event. So I don't see it as appropriate to classify this as the morning phase of the day (08:00 - 12:00) just simply "the morning."

Let's see what others may offer, but this is how I see it.

Bonne journée

Jim

Alors, ce matin-là ....

Why is ce matin-là preferable to cette matinée and why is the latter not acceptable?  I thought that if you wanted emphasis on the morning, you would use matinée vice matin.  I realize that the là added to matin certainly adds the focus, but why is cette matinée not given as another possibility.   As you may have already surmised, I struggle with these masculine / feminine forms for morning, day, evening, year, etc. despite having reviewed the lesson.  Thanks for your guidance in advance.

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