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En général, ce magasin ouvre tôt.

En général, ce magasin ouvre tôt.
In general, this shop opens early.
From Lesson 61:Adverbs of frequency (parfois, rarement)·French

Breakdown of En général, ce magasin ouvre tôt.

le magasin
the store
tôt
early
ouvrir
to open
en général
in general, usually

Questions & Answers about En général, ce magasin ouvre tôt.

Does en général work like the other adverbs of frequency we have learned?
Yes, it means "generally" or "usually." But notice its position! Single-word adverbs like souvent (often) or parfois (sometimes) usually go right after the verb. Because en général is a phrase, it often sits safely at the beginning of the sentence followed by a comma.
I thought magasin meant "magazine". Why does it mean "shop" here?
This is a famous "false friend"! The French word un magasin translates to a store or shop. If you want to talk about reading a magazine, the French word for that is actually un magazine.
Why use ce before magasin?
Ce is a pointing word (a demonstrative adjective) meaning "this" or "that" for masculine nouns. If you just wanted to say "the shop", you would use le magasin, but ce magasin specifically means "this shop."
The dictionary says the verb is ouvrir (an -ir verb). Why does ouvre end in an "e"?
Great catch! The verb ouvrir (to open) is a bit of a rule-breaker in French. Even though its infinitive ends in -ir, it borrows the present tense endings of regular -er verbs. That is why "it opens" is spelled ouvre with an "e" at the end, rather than an "it".

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