Learn French: Il est en retard, en fait il dort encore. - He is late, actually he is still asleep.

Il est en retard, en fait il dort encore.

He is late, actually he is still asleep.

Breakdown of Il est en retard, en fait il dort encore.

Questions & Answers about Il est en retard, en fait il dort encore.

Why use en retard instead of just tard for "late"?

In French, être en retard is used when a person, event, or vehicle is running behind schedule. You use tard to talk about the time of day, like in Il est tard (It is late at night). Since "he" is the one who is delayed here, we must use en retard.

Does en fait mean "in fact" or "actually"?

It means both! En fait is a very common connector used to state the true reality of a situation, translating perfectly to "actually" or "in fact". Be careful not to mix it up with the French word actuellement, which is a false friend that means "currently", not "actually"!

How does en fait compare to sequential connectors like d'abord or ensuite?

While words like d'abord (first) or ensuite (next) organize events in a time sequence, en fait is a logical connector. It helps structure your story by contrasting what was expected (he is just running a bit late) with the surprising reality (he is still in bed!).

I thought encore meant "again". Why does it mean "still" here?

Encore is a very flexible adverb. Depending on the context, it can mean "again", "still", or "even". Because he is currently sleeping and the action hasn't stopped yet, il dort encore translates best to "he is still asleep".