Breakdown of Aujourd'hui, le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas dans mon appartement.
Questions & Answers about Aujourd'hui, le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas dans mon appartement.
Aujourd'hui is considered one word in modern French, even though it contains an apostrophe.
Historically, it came from the expression au jour d’hui (literally “on the day of today”), where d’ + hui meant “of today.” Over time, it fused into aujourd’hui.
So:
- You write it as Aujourd'hui (one word).
- The apostrophe is just showing that d' and hui merged; it does not mean it’s two separate words today.
Yes. Adverbs of time like Aujourd'hui are quite flexible.
All of these are correct:
- Aujourd'hui, le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas dans mon appartement.
- Le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas dans mon appartement aujourd'hui.
Putting Aujourd'hui at the beginning sounds a bit more formal or written and emphasizes today. At the end, it sounds a bit more neutral and conversational.
French uses articles (like le, la, les) much more often than English does. You usually cannot drop the article in front of a noun.
Here, le Wi‑Fi means “the Wi‑Fi service / the Wi‑Fi connection” in your apartment. It’s like saying:
- “The Wi‑Fi isn’t working” (referring to the specific Wi‑Fi you have).
You would almost never say just Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas; it sounds incomplete. You need the article: Le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas.
Wi‑Fi is masculine in French, so you use masculine articles and adjectives with it:
- le Wi‑Fi
- un Wi‑Fi gratuit
- un bon Wi‑Fi
There’s no strong logical reason; it’s just how the borrowed word has been adopted in French: le Wi‑Fi.
Fonctionne is the present tense of fonctionner (3rd person singular).
French present tense covers both:
- English simple present: “The Wi‑Fi doesn’t work.”
- English present continuous: “The Wi‑Fi isn’t working (right now).”
Because you add Aujourd'hui, the natural interpretation is “Today, the Wi‑Fi isn’t working in my apartment” (a temporary situation), even though grammatically it’s just the simple present.
For machines, systems, or devices, French typically uses fonctionner or marcher, not travailler.
- fonctionner = “to function, to operate, to work (in the technical sense)”
- Le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas. – The Wi‑Fi isn’t working.
- marcher = literally “to walk,” but very commonly used informally for things that work or don’t work
- Le Wi‑Fi ne marche pas. – Same meaning, more colloquial.
- travailler = “to work” in the sense of a person having a job or studying/working hard, not for devices:
- Je travaille. – I’m working.
- Not natural for Wi‑Fi: ✗ Le Wi‑Fi ne travaille pas.
So in your sentence, ne fonctionne pas is perfectly correct and slightly more neutral/formal.
Standard French negation uses ne … pas around the conjugated verb:
- Le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas.
- ne comes before fonctionne
- pas comes after fonctionne
In careful writing and formal speech, you must use both parts: ne … pas.
In informal spoken French, people very often drop ne:
Le Wi‑Fi fonctionne pas dans mon appartement. (everyday speech)
Be aware: dropping ne is common in conversation, but in writing (especially anything formal or for exams) you should keep ne.
- dans means “in, inside” a physical space.
- dans mon appartement = inside my apartment (literally “in my apartment”).
- à mon appartement is not used for “in my apartment”; à doesn’t work that way in French.
You can say:
- Aujourd'hui, le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas chez moi.
- chez moi = “at my place / at my home” (a bit more general, not literally “inside the apartment”).
So:
- dans mon appartement stresses the interior physical space.
- chez moi is “at my (place/home)” and is very common in everyday speech.
Because appartement is a masculine noun in French:
- un appartement
- mon appartement (my apartment)
The possessive adjective must match the gender and number of the noun, not the person:
- mon = my (masculine singular)
- ma = my (feminine singular)
- mes = my (plural)
So you say:
- mon appartement (masculine)
- ma maison (feminine)
- mes appartements (plural)
Yes.
- appartement is the full, neutral word; it’s what you use in standard speech and in writing.
- appart is a shortened, very informal form, like “flat” or “apt” in English.
In casual conversation you might say:
- Aujourd'hui, le Wi‑Fi ne fonctionne pas dans mon appart.
In anything written or neutral, you’d stick to:
- dans mon appartement.
A reasonably careful pronunciation (in IPA) is:
[o.ʒuʁ.dɥi lə wi.fi nə fɔ̃k.sjɔ̃ pa dɑ̃ mɔ̃ na.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃]
A rough “English-style” approximation:
- Aujourd'hui ≈ “oh-zhoor-DWEE”
- le Wi‑Fi ≈ “luh wee-FEE”
- ne fonctionne ≈ “nuh fonk-SYON”
- pas ≈ “pah”
- dans ≈ “dahn” (nasal n, no hard n at the end)
- mon ≈ “mohn” (nasal n again)
- appartement ≈ “ah-par-tuh-MAHN” (final -nt is silent, nasal vowel at the end)
Spoken smoothly, ne may be very light, and dans mon often flows together: dɑ̃ mɔ̃.
Some very natural informal variants are:
Aujourd'hui, le Wi‑Fi marche pas chez moi.
- Uses marcher instead of fonctionner
- Drops ne, which is very common in speech
- Uses chez moi, which sounds very natural in conversation
Aujourd'hui, j'ai pas de Wi‑Fi dans mon appart.
- Literally: “Today, I don’t have Wi‑Fi in my apartment.”
- Focuses on the absence of Wi‑Fi rather than the idea that it’s malfunctioning.
Your original sentence is perfectly correct and neutral; these are just more colloquial equivalents.