when do you use tôt rather than en advance?

MaryA1Kwiziq community member

when do you use tôt rather than en advance?

When do you use tôt and when en advance

Asked 4 years ago
ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

tôt = early (in an absolute sense)
en avance = earlier than a certain time.

Le train arrive à 5 heures du matin. Il arrive tôt. -- The train arrives at 5 am. It arrives early.
Le train arrive avec 5 heures d'avance. -- The train arrives 5 hours early (than it was supposed to).

Le train arrive toujours 1 heure en avance -- The train always arrive 1 hour early

NigelA2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Chris, why did you use "avec 5 heures" in one example, and "1 heure" in the other example?

RichardC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I think this is because one says ‘avec 5 heures d’avance’, while the other says ‘1 heure en avance’. Slightly different ways of saying the same thing. 

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The verbs arriver, venir, finir, commencer all use either (duration) «en avance» or «en retard»,  or (avec duration) «d'avance or de retard». Chris has given an example of each use with «arriver».

Note the difference from the construction with verbs avoir or être. Expressing timeliness in French - late/early - precise

when do you use tôt rather than en advance?

When do you use tôt and when en advance

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Thinking...