Breakdown of En mars, les jours deviennent plus longs, et nous avons envie de marcher après le travail.
et
and
en
in
nous
we
le jour
the day
Questions & Answers about En mars, les jours deviennent plus longs, et nous avons envie de marcher après le travail.
Why does the sentence start with En mars? Why not dans mars or au mars?
En mars is the normal French way to say in March.
- en is used with most months:
- en mars = in March
- en avril = in April
- dans usually means in with a sense of inside or in ... time:
- dans la maison = in the house
- dans trois jours = in three days
- au mars is not correct for months.
You may also hear au mois de mars, which also means in the month of March, but it is longer and more formal than en mars.
Why is it les jours and not just jours?
In French, general statements often use the definite article where English might not.
So:
- les jours deviennent plus longs = the days are becoming longer / days are becoming longer
French usually prefers les here because it is talking about days in general, especially the days in that time of year.
This is very common:
- Les enfants aiment jouer. = Children like to play.
- Les chats dorment beaucoup. = Cats sleep a lot.
English often drops the article; French often keeps it.