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Ce soir or toute la soirée? Plan and describe an evening in French

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Use soir to say when, soirée for time spent or an evening event. Practise invitations, toute la soirée, tous les soirs and friendly goodbyes.

In short

Use soir to say when: ce soir (tonight), demain soir (tomorrow evening), le soir (in the evening). Use soirée for the evening you spend or an evening event: toute la soirée, une soirée entre amis.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

Friends enjoying a relaxed games evening at a French apartment table in soft lamplight, plain unmarked wooden playing pieces and blank-backed cards only; no letters numbers symbols or boards with writing.
Friends spend toute la soirée together. Illustration: Atelier
One evening, several useful expressions
FrenchEnglishUse
ce soirthis evening / tonightA plan for today.
demain soirtomorrow eveningA plan for tomorrow.
le soirin the eveningA routine.
tous les soirsevery eveningRepeated evenings.
toute la soiréeall eveningThe whole stretch of one evening.
une soirée jeuxa games nightAn evening event.
1

Suggest a plan

Ce soir locates the plan in time.

YouÇa te dit de venir chez moi ce soir ?Would you like to come to mine tonight?
Your friendAvec plaisir ! À quelle heure ?I’d love to! What time?
YouVers dix-neuf heures. On organise une soirée jeux.Around seven. We’re having a games night.
2

Suggest another evening

Your friendJe ne peux pas ce soir. Demain soir, ça te va ?I can’t tonight. Does tomorrow evening work for you?
YouOui, on peut passer la soirée ensemble demain.Yes, we can spend the evening together tomorrow.
3

Describe the evening afterwards

La soirée is the time you spent doing something.

Your friendVous avez passé une bonne soirée ?Did you have a good evening?
YouOui, on a joué aux cartes toute la soirée.Yes, we played cards all evening.
Your friendVous jouez tous les soirs ?Do you play every evening?
YouNon, seulement le vendredi soir.No, only on Friday evenings.
4

Arrive, leave, go to bed

YouBonsoir ! Merci pour l’invitation.Good evening! Thanks for inviting me.
Your friendBienvenue ! Entre, on vient de commencer.Welcome! Come in, we’ve just started.
YouJe dois rentrer. Bonne soirée à tous !I have to go home. Have a lovely evening, everyone!
Your friendMerci ! Et bonne nuit quand tu iras te coucher.Thanks! And sleep well when you go to bed.

Soir is masculine: un soir, ce soir. Soirée is feminine: une bonne soirée, toute la soirée. Bonsoir greets someone; bonne soirée wishes them a pleasant evening. Use bonne nuit when someone is going to sleep.

Je rentre chez moi ce soir, mais demain je passe la nuit chez Nora.

I’m going home tonight, but tomorrow I’m spending the night at Nora’s.

Ce soir gives a time reference. Passer la nuit chez quelqu’un describes an overnight stay.

Question 1No account needed
Choose “all evening”.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

toute la soirée. Toute la soirée is the whole stretch of one evening. Tous les soirs means every evening.

Question 2No account needed
You arrive for dinner at eight in the evening. What greeting fits?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Bonsoir !. Bonsoir is the greeting on arrival. Bonne soirée is a wish, often used when leaving.

Question 3No account needed
Complete the invitation.Tu viens chez nous ___ ?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

ce soir. Soir is masculine. The time expression is ce soir.

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