Log inSign up

Je vais préparer le décor dans trois heures.

Je vais préparer le décor dans trois heures.
I am going to prepare the set in three hours.
From Lesson 100:Future timeframes (dans...)·French

Questions & Answers about Je vais préparer le décor dans trois heures.

Why do we use dans here instead of en for "in"?
In French, dans followed by a time expression means that an action will happen "in [amount of time] from now." Because you will start the preparation three hours from the present moment, you must use dans. If you wanted to say that the preparation itself takes three hours to complete, you would use en (en trois heures).
Does le décor always mean "the set" like in a theater?
It often means "the set" for a play or movie, which is the meaning here. However, it can also translate to "the scenery," "the setting," or "the decor" of a room. You rely on the context of the conversation to know which one it is.
Why use Je vais préparer instead of a single future tense word like préparerai?
Je vais préparer is the near future tense, made by combining the present tense of aller (to go) and the infinitive préparer. It translates directly to "I am going to prepare." French speakers use this very frequently for planned actions in the relatively near future, which fits perfectly with the specific, upcoming timeframe of dans trois heures.
How do I pronounce trois heures? Is there a liaison?
Yes, there is a mandatory liaison between these two words. Because heures starts with a silent h, the s at the end of trois connects to it and sounds like a "z". You pronounce the phrase as "trwah-zuhr". Note that the s in dans is silent and does not connect to trois.

Learn Je vais préparer le décor dans trois heures and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →