Learn French: Quand finissent les vacances ? - When do the holidays finish?

Quand finissent les vacances ?

When do the holidays finish?

Breakdown of Quand finissent les vacances ?

les vacances

the vacation / the holidays

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Questions & Answers about Quand finissent les vacances ?

Why do we use quand here instead of à quelle heure?

Quand is the general word for when, used for asking about a date, a day, or a time of year. You use à quelle heure when you want to know a specific clock time. Since holidays usually end on a date rather than at a set hour, quand is the correct choice.

Why is the verb finissent placed before the subject les vacances?

This is a formal way to ask questions called inversion, where you flip the normal order of the verb and the subject. It is common to put the verb right after a short question word like quand. A simpler, everyday alternative is to use est-ce que and keep the normal order: Quand est-ce que les vacances finissent ?

Why is the word for holiday plural here?

In French, the word for a holiday or vacation is almost always used in the plural form: les vacances. Even if you mean a single vacation trip, it stays plural in French, which is why the verb in this sentence must also be plural.

What kind of verb is finissent and why does it end that way?

It comes from finir (to finish), which is a regular -ir verb. Because the subject les vacances is plural and acts like the feminine plural pronoun elles, we drop the -ir and add the plural ending -issent.