Learn Hardcore French: Si Paul se lève trop tard, son humeur est aussi mauvaise que quand il manque sa correspondance. - If Paul gets up too late, his mood is as bad as when he misses his connection.

Without se, lever usually means to raise something (an object or a part of the body). With se, it means that the subject is performing the action on themselves (getting themselves up out of bed / off a chair).

So in this sentence, we are talking about Paul getting up (out of bed), so we need the reflexive form se lève.

Why is the present tense used after si? Could you say si Paul se lèvera?

In French, you do not use the future tense directly after si (if) in this kind of conditional sentence.

The normal patterns are:

Si + présent, présent
General truth or habit
→ Si Paul se lève trop tard, son humeur est mauvaise.
(If Paul gets up too late, his mood is bad.)
Si + présent, futur
Real condition in the future
→ Si Paul se lève trop tard demain, il sera de mauvaise humeur.
(If Paul gets up too late tomorrow, he will be in a bad mood.)

You cannot say:
✗ Si Paul se lèvera… → This is incorrect in standard French.

So the sentence uses present + present to describe a general, habitual situation: whenever that condition happens, the result is like that.

What is the difference between trop tard and en retard?

Both relate to being late, but they are used differently:

trop tard = too late (in an absolute sense)
→ Je me suis levé trop tard. — I got up too late.
You have passed the time limit or ideal time.
en retard = late (for an appointment, schedule, deadline)
→ Je suis en retard au travail. — I am late for work.

In this sentence:

Si Paul se lève trop tard, we mean he gets up too late (later than he should), which typically causes other problems (like missing his connection).

Could we say Quand Paul se lève trop tard instead of Si Paul se lève trop tard? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

Si Paul se lève trop tard…
Emphasizes a condition: If it happens that Paul gets up too late…
It focuses on the idea of in the case where he gets up too late.
Quand Paul se lève trop tard…
Emphasizes repetition / habit: Whenever Paul gets up too late…
It sounds slightly more like you are talking about repeated situations you know well.

In many everyday contexts, they can feel quite close, but si is more explicitly conditional, while quand is more temporal (when/whenever).

Why is it son humeur est aussi mauvaise que and not something like si mauvaise comme?

French comparatives of equality have a very specific structure:

aussi + adjective + que = as … as

So:

aussi mauvaise que = as bad as

Examples:

Il est aussi grand que toi. — He is as tall as you.
C’est aussi important que ça. — It’s as important as that.

Structures like:

✗ si mauvaise comme
are not correct for this meaning.

Note: si + adjective does exist, but it has another function, often to intensify:

Elle est si gentille. — She is so kind.

But for comparison “as bad as”, you must use aussi mauvaise que.

What’s the difference between aussi … que, plus … que, and moins … que?

These are the three basic comparative structures in French:

Equality
- aussi + adjective/adverb + que
  → Son humeur est aussi mauvaise que quand il manque sa correspondance.
  (His mood is as bad as when he misses his connection.)
Superiority (more)
- plus + adjective/adverb + que
  → Son humeur est plus mauvaise que d’habitude.
  (His mood is worse than usual.)
Inferiority (less)
- moins + adjective/adverb + que
  → Aujourd’hui, son humeur est moins mauvaise que hier.
  (Today, his mood is less bad than yesterday.)

The pattern [aussi / plus / moins] + adjective + que is very regular.

What exactly does correspondance mean here? It looks like “correspondence” in English.

This is a false friend.

In this context, une correspondance means:

a connection or connecting service, especially in public transport (train, bus, metro, plane).

Examples:

Je dois prendre une correspondance à Lyon.
→ I have to change / catch a connecting train in Lyon.
J’ai raté ma correspondance.
→ I missed my connection.

So manquer sa correspondance here means to miss his connecting train/bus/flight, not to miss his correspondence (letters).

Why is it il manque sa correspondance and not il rate sa correspondance? Is there a difference between manquer and rater?

Both verbs can be used for missing a train, bus, etc., but there are nuances:

manquer quelque chose
- Quite standard, neutral.
- Often used in written and spoken French.
- Il a manqué son train. — He missed his train.
rater quelque chose
- Slightly more informal/colloquial.
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Il a raté son train. — He missed his train.

So il manque sa correspondance and il rate sa correspondance are both understandable; manquer is just a bit more neutral.

Be careful with manquer à quelqu’un:

Tu me manques. = I miss you.
(literally: You are missing to me.)

So the structure changes the meaning a lot:

manquer quelque chose = to miss something (like a train).
manquer à quelqu’un = to be missed by someone.

Why is quand used after que? Could we say que lorsqu’il manque sa correspondance instead?

The structure here is:

aussi mauvaise que quand il manque sa correspondance

Where:

aussi mauvaise que = as bad as
quand il manque sa correspondance = a clause functioning as the comparison term: when he misses his connection

You can indeed replace quand with lorsque:

son humeur est aussi mauvaise que lorsqu’il manque sa correspondance.

Differences:

quand = when (very common, neutral).
lorsque = also when, but often a bit more formal / literary.

Both are grammatically correct here.

Why is the adjective mauvaise feminine? How do we know?

In French, adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

The noun humeur (mood) is feminine:
→ une humeur, la bonne humeur

Therefore, the adjective mauvais must take the feminine form:

masculine singular: mauvais (un mauvais jour)
feminine singular: mauvaise (une mauvaise humeur)
masculine plural: mauvais (de mauvais jours)
feminine plural: mauvaises (de mauvaises humeurs)

Because humeur is feminine singular, we get mauvaise.

Why is it son humeur and not sa humeur, if humeur is feminine?

You’re right that humeur is feminine, but there is a special rule with possessive adjectives:

For a feminine noun starting with a vowel or a mute “h”, French uses mon / ton / son (the “masculine” forms) to avoid an awkward sound.

So:

ma humeur → awkward to pronounce
We say: mon humeur (my mood)
ta habitude → awkward
We say: ton habitude (your habit)

In this sentence:

humeur starts with a mute h, so we must use son (not sa): → son humeur

It’s about sound and flow, not gender here. The noun is still feminine; the possessive form just changes for euphony.

Could we replace the second sa correspondance with a pronoun and say quand il la manque?

Grammatically, quand il la manque (when he misses it) is possible, but in this particular sentence style, French often repeats the noun rather than using a pronoun, because:

It keeps the sentence clearer and more natural, especially in a comparison.
The clause quand il manque sa correspondance feels more complete and vivid than quand il la manque.

If the noun had just been mentioned immediately before, a pronoun would be more likely:

Paul doit prendre une correspondance. Quand il la manque, il est de très mauvaise humeur.

Here, la clearly refers to une correspondance. In your original sentence, repeating sa correspondance is perfectly natural and even stylistically preferable.