Expressing timeliness (late, early, on time) - in general

Hi Brenda,

There's nothing wrong about the expression 'de bonne heure' for early but it is used slightly differently.

The lesson refers to a specific time and you can be 'en avance', à l'heure , ou 'en retard'. So the train expected at 13 42 will be any of these.

You would use 'de bonne heure' when you mean 'tôt' and the sense of earliness is less precise in my opinion.

Nous sommes partis de bonne heure ce matin pour éviter la circulation. (We left early this morning to avoid the traffic.) 

Essaie de rentrer de bonne heure ce soir! (Try to come home early tonight !)

Hope this helps!

Hi Sherry - that's a great question. The distinction between "à temps" and "à l'heure" is very much like the nuance between "in time" vs "on time" in English. So, depending on the context, they can be interchangeable, but if you want to get across something happening in advance of some deadline or event then use "à temps" (in time), whereas if you want to talk about something happening punctually with respect to a specific time then use "à l'heure" (on time). The wording in English is never going to be so clear cut, but it helps convey the nuances in the two meanings.

Hope that helps!

It does help. Merci, Gruff!

Noticed Nimn's question afer posting but still am not sure why it cannot be Mon frère est arrivé tard (as opposed to en retard) ce matin. He's not late for the appointment just late in the morning? Can tard not be seen as an adjective?

Bonjour Jennifer !

Yes I agree that in the absence of context, both tard and en retard could work in this sentence.

However, seen as we're testing specifically en retard here, I've therefore removed and updated this question to give it a clear context :)

Thank you very much for pointing this out !
Merci et à bientôt !

Hi Nim - "etre en tard" doesn't exist.

'Tard' expresses the quality of lateness usually with with respect to time of the day or some other event, whereas the 'retard' means late in the sense of being behind a schedule, delayed or dropping behind.

Compare these French expressions with 'tard' with these French expressions with 'retard'.

Notice that 'tard' is an adjective, whereas the expression 'en retard' functions as adverb ('retard' on its own is a noun).

Hope that helps!

Hi Advika - there's no logic to which prepositions are used in most cases I'm afraid. You just have to learn them by heart. Best wishes, Gruff

Thank you very much for you timing and help .

Bonjour Advika,

Could you please complete your question?

Merci,

Bonjour William !

That's an interesting question: there is a nuance between these two expressions "de bonne heure" and "en avance".
"De bonne heure" means "early" in the sense of "at an early time of day",
whereas "en avance" means "early" as in "in relation to a specific given time".

Therefore, you use "de bonne heure" with verbs like "arriver", "partir", "se coucher", "se lever"...
but it sounds a bit weird with "être" as "to be early" implies the second case (i.e. given time).

However, it would work with "être là de bonne heure" (to be *there* early) as here both meanings are possible without a clear context.

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Bonjour Clarissa !

The word "tôt" means "early" as opposed to "tard" (late) in French, to indicate a time in the day, i.e. "early in the morning". 
e.g. "Je me suis levé tôt."    (I got up early.)
       "Oh là là, il est tôt !"     (Oh, it's early!)
       "Tu es arrivé plus tôt que prévu."   (You arrived earlier than expected.)

"En avance" and "en retard" indicate a relationship between those moments and a given time: you're early or late compared to that given time. 

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !