Breakdown of Pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée, Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir.
Questions & Answers about Pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée, Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir.
In French, pour + infinitive is a very common way to express purpose, similar to "in order to" + verb in English.
- pour garder = in order to keep / to keep
- The verb after pour must stay in the infinitive (here: garder).
So the structure is:
- Pour + infinitif = in order to + base verb
- Pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée = In order to keep a balanced daily life
In French, most adjectives normally come after the noun, not before it.
- vie = noun (life)
- quotidienne = adjective (daily)
- équilibrée = adjective (balanced)
So the natural order is:
- une vie quotidienne équilibrée
- literally: a life daily balanced
- meaning: a balanced daily life
Putting both adjectives before the noun (une équilibrée quotidienne vie) would sound incorrect and very unnatural.
Some common, short adjectives can come before the noun (e.g. petit, grand, beau), but quotidienne and équilibrée are not in that group, so they stay after vie.
Both quotidienne and équilibrée agree with vie, which is:
- vie: feminine, singular → une vie
Therefore:
- quotidien → feminine singular: quotidienne
- équilibré → feminine singular: équilibrée
French adjectives must match the gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the noun they describe, so both adjectives take -e for feminine and no -s because it’s singular.
In French, when you have a structure like temps de + noun, that noun is usually singular, even if in English you might think of multiple things.
- temps d'écran literally: screen time
- The focus is on the type of time (time spent with screens in general), not on counting individual screens.
So:
- son temps d'écran = her screen time
- d’écrans (plural) would sound odd here; it would suggest "time of screens" as countable objects, which is not how the expression works.
Yes, temps d'écran is now a common expression in modern French, especially in discussions about health, technology, and children.
- temps = time
- d'écran = of screen
- temps d'écran = screen time (time spent using screens: phone, computer, tablet, TV, etc.)
You will often see phrases like:
- réduire son temps d’écran – to reduce one’s screen time
- limiter le temps d’écran des enfants – to limit children’s screen time
Le soir here is a very common time expression meaning in the evening / at night (in the evenings), especially in a habitual or general sense.
- Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir = She limits her screen time in the evenings (as a routine).
Key points:
- le matin / l'après-midi / le soir / la nuit can all mean "in the morning / afternoon / evening / at night" when talking about usual habits.
- You normally do not say dans le soir or au soir in this sense.
- dans la soirée exists, but it refers more to at some point during the evening (more specific), not a general habit.
Yes, that version is perfectly correct and natural:
- Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée.
Both orders are fine:
- Pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée, Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir.
- Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée.
The meaning is the same. The difference is emphasis:
- Starting with Pour garder... highlights the goal/purpose first.
- Starting with Marie limite... is more neutral and focuses first on what she does.
In this context, garder means to keep / to maintain over time, with a nuance of not losing something that you already have.
- garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée = to keep/maintain a balanced daily life (to avoid losing that balance).
Alternatives:
- maintenir une vie quotidienne équilibrée – also correct, a bit more formal/neutral.
- avoir une vie quotidienne équilibrée – to have a balanced daily life, but it doesn’t express the idea of continuing to have it as strongly.
So garder suggests effort to preserve that balance over time.
The comma separates the purpose clause from the main clause:
- Pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée, → purpose / reason
- Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir. → main action
In French, when a clause introduced by pour, parce que, quand, etc. comes at the beginning of the sentence, it is usually followed by a comma. If the pour-clause comes at the end, you normally do not put a comma before it:
- Marie limite son temps d'écran le soir pour garder une vie quotidienne équilibrée. (no comma needed)
une vie quotidienne équilibrée = a balanced daily life
- This talks about Marie’s life in a more individual, non-general way. It’s like saying “a kind of life” that she wants for herself.
la vie quotidienne équilibrée would sound strange here, because la (the) suggests the balanced daily life in general, as if it were a single, specific concept shared by everyone.
Here we’re talking about her own lifestyle, so une is more natural: she wants to keep a balanced daily life (for herself).
When limiter means to limit/restrict something, it is typically used directly with a direct object, without a preposition:
- limiter quelque chose
- limiter son temps d'écran – to limit her screen time
- limiter la consommation de sucre – to limit sugar consumption
You would use limiter quelque chose à + chiffre / quantité if you’re specifying a maximum amount:
- Elle limite son temps d’écran à une heure par jour. – She limits her screen time to one hour per day.
In your sentence, we’re not given a specific quantity, so it’s just limite son temps d’écran.