In perusing our Barron%26#39;s French Visual Language Guide, I came across the following in the footer (on the bottom) of page 17: %26quot;In French two weeks or fourteen days is expressed as 15 (quinze) jours. One week consists of %26#39;8 (huit) days.%26#39;%26quot;
A more thorough explanation would certainly be appreciated.
Merci beaucoup!
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I understand that for a fortnight its %26quot;un quinzaine%26quot; because you add the extra sunday onto it. So you have sunday to sat 7 days, sun to sat 7 days and the last sunday off work 1 day makes 15.
No idea bout the 8 days to a week business though.
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I understand that for a fortnight its %26quot;un quinzaine%26quot; because you add the extra sunday onto it. So you have sunday to sat 7 days, sun to sat 7 days and the last sunday off work 1 day makes 15.
No idea bout the 8 days to a week business though.
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heleup -
If 15 days works for a fortnight because of the extra Sunday, then 8 days works for a week for the same reason - Sunday to Saturday plus the extra Sunday = 8 days...
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huh! now that could get confusing... wouldn%26#39;t the next week only have 6? You%26#39;ve already accounted for its Sunday...
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I can confirm that we do say 8 jours and quize jours, and i have always wondered why.
I doubt any French will have an explanation for that? Not me...
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It%26#39;s a question of language, not math.
When you go away on vacation (example) for 1 week you say 8 jours and if you go got 2 weeks you say 15 jours!
I had never thought of it till you mentioned it!
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Yes this really confused me when I first learned French! 8 days, yes in a week, I thought you said 8 days , yes right, one week. lol.
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Thank you all for clearing that up! Apparently, it is one of those idiomatic phrases--look at it as language, not math. Myles and I were looking at it from a math point, and so we were quite confused!
This also expands on the meaning of the Beatles%26#39; %26quot;Eight Days a Week.%26quot; :-)
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Miss ~%26gt; You and Myles come up with the cutest questions. It sounds like it is like for us saying %26quot;a few%26quot; or %26quot;several%26quot;. To us a few may mean slightly more than a couple, but to a person who is learning english that might be pretty confusing as well. It doesn%26#39;t literally mean 15 days but there abouts.
Up here in Cowtown it%26#39;s still one week or two weeks.
Sounds like you might have an extra day on your vacation that way, eh?
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Oh, if only it worked that way--to give us an extra day or so!
Differences in language can be quite confusing--even English speakers have differences, not only among countries (US, Canada, England, Ireland), but even within the country sometimes--well, within the US, anyway.
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