Le jour suivant / Le jour précédent have to be used on their own, but they don't?

Guilherme S.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Le jour suivant / Le jour précédent have to be used on their own, but they don't?

"As for le jour suivant (on the following day) and le jour précédent (on the previous day), they are used in a past context just like le lendemain and la veille, but always on their own."

And then you give the examples: "Il a été relâché le jour suivant son arrestation."; "Le jour précédant leur premier rendez-vous, ils étaient très nerveux.".

So, do they have to be used on their own, or not?

Asked 3 years ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Guilherme,

As Chris explained very well:

le jour suivant + noun (the day following + noun)

le jour précédant + noun (the day preceding + noun

vs

le jour suivant (the following day) / le jour précédent (the previous day) = on their own

@Chris, thank you for your feedback. I will pass on it to the French team.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I also struggle with this particular lesson and think that it would benefit a lot if there were a table summarizing in which context to use what phrase and how.

I find that if I don't think too much, I usually get it right.

la veille / le lendemain [optionally: + de + noun]
le jour précedant / le jour suivant [optionally: + noun]
le jour d'avant / le jour d'après

And then you can add stuff to this to make it more precise:

la veille au soir -- the evening of the previous day
la veille au matin -- the morning of the previous day

That's it, basically.

Guilherme S. asked:

Le jour suivant / Le jour précédent have to be used on their own, but they don't?

"As for le jour suivant (on the following day) and le jour précédent (on the previous day), they are used in a past context just like le lendemain and la veille, but always on their own."

And then you give the examples: "Il a été relâché le jour suivant son arrestation."; "Le jour précédant leur premier rendez-vous, ils étaient très nerveux.".

So, do they have to be used on their own, or not?

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