Time words in French: today, tomorrow and yesterday

TL;DR: The French words for today, tomorrow, and yesterday are “aujourd’hui”, “demain”, and “hier”, respectively. To say the day before yesterday, use “avant-hier”, and for the day after tomorrow, use “après-demain”. You should also learn other useful time expressions, including “maintenant” (now), “ce matin” (this morning), “bientôt” (soon), “ce soir” (this evening or tonight), “la semaine prochaine” (next week), and “la semaine dernière” (last week).

Learning time words in French is helpful for describing plans, routines, and past events. It can also help you understand everyday conversations, making it a practical starting point when learning French.

How do you say “today”, “tomorrow”, and “yesterday” in French?

When learning time words in French, start with the three most common vocabulary words: today, tomorrow, and yesterday. You will come across these words in everyday conversations about appointments, travel, work, and daily routines. Here are time words in French to help you get started:

 

These are common time expressions that can appear at the beginning or end of a sentence. For instance, “aujourd’hui, je travaille” means “today, I’m working”, while “je travaille demain” translates to “I’m working tomorrow”.

Learning the two longer expressions is easier once you’ve mastered the shorter ones. “Avant” means “before”, so “avant-hier” refers to the day before yesterday. Similarly, “après” translates to “after”, which makes “après-demain” the day after tomorrow.

What are the French words for parts of the day?

French speakers use specific expressions for different parts of the day, including morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Here is a complete breakdown to help you get started:

For instance, “J’ai un rendez-vous demain matin” means “I have an appointment tomorrow morning”. To describe a past event, say “Nous avons regardé un film hier soir”, which means “We watched a film last night”. You should pay close attention to the differences between “le matin” and “ce matin”. While the first is used to mean the morning in general, the second means this morning.

How do you say next week, last month, and other time periods?

In French, you say "prochain" (next) or "dernier" (last) after the noun to mean next or last counting from now: "la semaine prochaine". Before the noun, they mean the next or last in a series: "la dernière semaine de juillet" is "the last week of July".

• This week: Cette semaine
• Next week: La semaine prochaine
• Last week: La semaine dernière
• This month: Ce mois-ci
• Next month: Le mois prochain
• Last month: Le mois dernier
• This year: Cette année
• Next year: L’année prochaine
• Last year: L’année dernière
• Next weekend: Le week-end prochain
• Last weekend: Le week-end dernier

What other French time words should beginners learn?

When learning time words in French, learners should study more than today, tomorrow, and yesterday. Other French time words that can help you in everyday conversations to describe when something happens, how long ago it happened, or how often it occurs include the following:

The expressions above are useful when describing routines and making arrangements. For instance, “Je suis occupé en ce moment” means “I’m busy at the moment”, while “À bientôt!” translates to “See you soon!”

However, keep in mind that the English meaning of a word can change with context. For example, “encore” can mean “again” or “still”, depending on the sentence. Use language learning apps like Memrise, which include native-speaker videos, to help you identify these uses in everyday conversations.

How do you use French time words in everyday sentences?

The most effective way to learn time vocabulary is to use it in complete sentences. Doing this helps learners remember the translation as well as the grammar that goes with it. Here are a few examples to help you get started:

• Aujourd’hui, il fait beau: The weather is nice today
• Je t’appelle demain: I’ll call you tomorrow
• Je suis arrivé hier: I arrived yesterday
• Nous partons après-demain: We’re leaving the day after tomorrow
• Elle travaille cette semaine: She is working this week
• Nous sommes partis le mois dernier: We left last month

Notice how the verb tense changes with the time reference. “Demain” often appears with a future form or present tense, while “hier” commonly appears with a past tense. You should also learn how to ask questions with time expressions. For instance, “Tu viens demain?” means “Are you coming tomorrow?”

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between “aujourd’hui” and “maintenant”?

“Aujourd’hui” means “today” and refers to the current calendar day. “Maintenant”, on the other hand, means “now” and usually refers to the present moment. For instance, “Aujourd’hui, je travaille” translates to “I’m working today”, while “Je travaille maintenant” means “I’m working now”.

How do you say “the day after tomorrow” in French?

"The day after tomorrow" is "après-demain" in French. It combines "après" (after) and "demain" (tomorrow) and is always written with a hyphen. For example, "Je pars après-demain" means "I'm leaving the day after tomorrow". Its counterpart is "avant-hier", "the day before yesterday", built the same way from "avant" (before) and "hier" (yesterday).


Do French days and months start with capital letters?

No. In standard French, days of the week and months are written in lowercase unless they start a sentence: lundi, mardi, janvier, février. So "Je pars lundi" and "Mon anniversaire est en mars" both use lowercase. This differs from English, where days and months always take a capital letter, and it's one of the most common mistakes English speakers make when writing French.