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Cet après-midi, nous visitons un musée.

Cet après-midi, nous visitons un musée.
This afternoon, we are visiting a museum.
FromLesson 28inHardcore French

Breakdown of Cet après-midi, nous visitons un musée.

nous
we
visiter
to visit
cet
this
l'après-midi
the afternoon
le musée
the museum

Questions & Answers about Cet après-midi, nous visitons un musée.

Why is the present tense used for a future plan here?
In French, the simple present can express a near-future, scheduled event when there’s a time marker. So Cet après-midi, nous visitons un musée naturally means a plan for this afternoon. It’s very common in speech and writing.
Could I say Nous allons visiter un musée or Nous visiterons un musée instead?

Yes.

  • Nous allons visiter un musée (near future, aller + infinitive) emphasizes an intention/plan that’s fairly immediate.
  • Nous visiterons un musée (simple future) is neutral or a touch more formal/remote, often used for predictions or firm plans. All three are correct; choice is about nuance and style.
Is visiter the right verb? What about rendre visite or aller voir?
  • Use visiter for places: visiter un musée / une ville / un pays.
  • Use rendre visite à for people: rendre visite à ma grand-mère (visit my grandmother).
  • Aller voir is casual: On va voir un musée is understandable but people more often say on va au musée or on visite un musée.
Does visiter need a preposition? Should it be visiter à un musée?
No preposition. Visiter takes a direct object: visiter un musée. Don’t say visiter à. If you use a preposition, it will usually be with another verb, e.g., aller au musée (go to the museum).
Why is it un musée and not le musée?
Un means “a” (unspecified). If both speakers know which museum, you’d use le: Cet après-midi, nous visitons le musée (e.g., the one you mentioned earlier), or a proper name: …le musée d’Orsay.
Why cet and not ce?
French uses cet before masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel sound or silent h to ease pronunciation: cet homme, cet hôtel, cet après-midi. Before a consonant, it’s ce: ce matin.
Is après-midi masculine or feminine?
Both are accepted. Masculine is more common, hence cet après-midi. If you treat it as feminine, you must say cette après-midi. Choose one gender and be consistent within a text.
Can I put the time at the end: Nous visitons un musée cet après-midi?
Yes. Both orders are correct. Fronting the time (Cet après-midi, …) adds a bit of emphasis to “this afternoon.”
Do I need the comma after Cet après-midi?
It’s recommended when a time expression is fronted: Cet après-midi, … Without it you’ll still be understood, but the comma is standard.
How do I pronounce this? Any liaisons?
  • Cet is [sɛt]; liaison makes the t audible before a vowel: cet‿après- sounds like “set-tapré…”.
  • après-midi: [apʁɛ midi].
  • nous visitons: in careful speech you often hear a liaison: nous‿visitons [nu‿vizitɔ̃] (the s of nous becomes a [z]).
  • un musée: [œ̃ myze] (“uhn” + “mu-zay”). No liaison after un here.
How would I negate the sentence?
Cet après-midi, nous ne visitons pas de musée. After negation, an indefinite article usually becomes de: pas de musée. If it’s a specific museum previously mentioned, you’d keep the definite article: nous ne visitons pas le musée.
How do I turn it into a question?

Three common ways:

Can I drop nous and say Visitons un musée?
Yes, but it changes the meaning. Visitons un musée ! is the first-person plural imperative: “Let’s visit a museum!” For a statement of fact/plan, you need the subject: Nous visitons… (French doesn’t normally drop subject pronouns).
Are the accents and hyphen necessary?
Yes, accents are part of the spelling: après (with è), musée (with é). The hyphen in après-midi is the standard spelling; you may see it written without a hyphen in some sources, but the hyphenated form is widely preferred. Plurals you may encounter: des après-midis or (less often) des après-midi.
Could I use on instead of nous?
Absolutely. In everyday French, on often means “we.” So: Cet après-midi, on visite un musée. It’s more colloquial. Grammar changes accordingly: on visite (third-person singular), not visitons.
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“How does grammatical gender work in French?”
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).

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