Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.

On Sundays, the cooking tasks are shared well between us.

Breakdown of Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.

• de: of
• nous: us
• la tâche: the task
• bien: well
• le dimanche: the Sunday
• entre: between
• la cuisine: the cooking
• se partager: to be shared

Questions & Answers about Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.

Why is it Le dimanche and not just Dimanche or Les dimanches?

In French, you often put the definite article le in front of a day of the week to express a habitual action:

• Le dimanche = on Sundays (every Sunday / usually on Sundays)
• Dimanche (without article) = this Sunday / on Sunday (a specific one)
• Les dimanches = also on Sundays, but it often emphasizes all Sundays as separate individual days, and is used less in everyday speech for habits.

So:

• Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.
  → Our kitchen tasks are normally well shared out on Sundays (as a routine).

Saying Dimanche, les tâches… would sound more like “This Sunday the cooking tasks are well shared between us,” talking about one particular Sunday, not a general habit.

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Why is it les tâches de cuisine and not les tâches de la cuisine?

Les tâches de cuisine literally means “kitchen tasks” or “cooking-related tasks” in a general sense.

• de cuisine here works like an adjectival complement: it tells you what kind of tasks they are (tasks of kitchen type).

If you said les tâches de la cuisine, it would sound more like “the tasks of the kitchen,” referring to that particular kitchen and all tasks belonging to it. It’s grammatically possible, but much less natural here and oddly specific.

Compare:

• les tâches de cuisine = kitchen/cooking chores in general
• les tâches de la cuisine = the tasks of that particular kitchen (rare/unusual phrasing in this context)

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What exactly is going on grammatically with se partagent?

Se partagent is the present tense, 3rd person plural of the verb se partager.

• se partager is a pronominal verb (with se), and here it’s used in a “middle” / reflexive-like sense meaning something like “are shared out” or “get divided up”.

Breakdown:

• les tâches de cuisine = subject (they)
• se = reflexive pronoun referring back to les tâches de cuisine
• partagent = 3rd person plural of partager (to share)

Literally: “The kitchen tasks share themselves well between us.”
Natural English: “The kitchen tasks are well shared out between us.”

So the structure is:

Les tâches de cuisine (subject) se partagent (verb) entre nous (between us).

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Why do we use se partagent and not sont partagées?

Both are grammatically correct, but they feel different:

• Les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.
  – Uses a pronominal / middle voice construction.
  – Feels more neutral and natural, focusing on how the tasks distribute themselves among the people.
  – Very idiomatic in French.

• Les tâches de cuisine sont bien partagées entre nous.
  – Passive voice.
  – More static: it describes a state (they are well shared) rather than a process.
  – Perfectly correct but a bit more formal/dry.

In everyday spoken French, se partagent bien often sounds smoother and more idiomatic than sont bien partagées in this context.

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Why do we say entre nous instead of avec nous or par nous?

• entre nous = between us
  It emphasizes distribution within the group: the tasks are split among the members of “us”.

• avec nous = with us
  This would mean “with us” in the sense of “together with us,” not “divided up among us.” It doesn’t express the idea of sharing tasks between members of the group.

• par nous = by us
  That would emphasize the doer/agent: the tasks are performed by us.
  Example: Les tâches de cuisine sont faites par nous. = The kitchen tasks are done by us.

In this sentence, the idea is: > The tasks are divided among the people, not just done by them or with them, so entre nous is the natural choice.

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Why is it se partagent (plural) and not se partage (singular)?

The verb must agree with its subject.

• Subject = les tâches de cuisine (plural feminine)
• So the verb is 3rd person plural: se partagent.

If the subject were singular, you would use se partage:

• La tâche de cuisine se partage bien entre nous.
  → The kitchen task is well shared out between us.

But since there are many tasks (les tâches), you need se partagent.

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What is the gender and number of tâches? Why is there a circumflex (â)?

• tâche = feminine noun, singular
• les tâches = feminine plural (in the sentence)

So you have:

• une tâche
• la tâche
• des tâches
• les tâches

The circumflex accent on â distinguishes tâche (task) from tache (without accent), which means stain/spot.

So:

• tâche = task, duty
• tache = stain

In speaking, they often sound similar (depending on accent), so the written accent is important for meaning.

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Why is bien placed after se partagent and not before, like bien se partagent?

In French, most adverbs like bien, mal, souvent, toujours generally come after the conjugated verb:

• Les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien.
• Il travaille bien.
• Nous mangeons souvent à la maison.

If bien comes before the verb (bien se partagent), it usually has a different function, for example in emphasis or in a different sentence pattern, and would sound odd here.

Correct word order in this sentence is:

Les tâches de cuisine (subject) se partagent (verb) bien (adverb) entre nous (complement).

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Could we say Le dimanche, on se partage bien les tâches de cuisine entre nous? What’s the difference?

Yes, this is possible:

• Le dimanche, on se partage bien les tâches de cuisine entre nous.

Differences:

1. Subject:

   • Original: les tâches de cuisine se partagent…
     → Focus on the tasks and how they get shared.
   • Alternative: on se partage les tâches…
     → Focus on “we” and what we do: “we share out the tasks.”

2. Register:

   • on is very common in spoken French (and also in informal written French) meaning “we”.
   • The original sentence with the tasks as subject sounds a bit more neutral / descriptive.

Both are natural; they just shift the point of view.

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Can I move Le dimanche to the end and say: Les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous le dimanche?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

• Les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous le dimanche.

Both orders are fine:

1. Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.
2. Les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous le dimanche.

Placing Le dimanche at the beginning puts more emphasis on the time frame (“As for Sundays…”), which is a very common style in French (and in English: “On Sundays, …”). The version with le dimanche at the end is a bit more neutral in rhythm.

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Why present tense? How would I say it in other tenses, like past or future?

The sentence is in the present indicative:

• Les tâches de cuisine se partagent bien entre nous.
  → Describes a current habit or general truth.

Other tenses:

• Imparfait (used to / was a habit in the past):

  • Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partageaient bien entre nous.
    → On Sundays, the kitchen tasks used to be well shared out between us.

• Futur simple (future habit or prediction):

  • Le dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se partageront bien entre nous.
    → On Sundays, the kitchen tasks will be well shared out between us.

• Passé composé (one specific Sunday or limited period):

  • Dimanche, les tâches de cuisine se sont bien partagées entre nous.
    → This Sunday, the kitchen tasks were well shared out between us.

The choice of tense changes whether you’re talking about a habit, a current situation, or a specific event.