Vacances

n. – vacation
Temps
n – time or weather
Once July rolls around in Paris, a popular topic of conversation is where one is going on vacation. Anyone from your friends to the neighborhood baker or newsstand vendor will ask. Most French people have an average of five weeks vacation not including religious and other holidays. Summer, for the obvious reasons, is a popular time to take time off. August is practically a non-month leaving the city filled with mostly tourists – the Parisians enjoying time by the sea or in the countryside.

Summer in Paris is far more bearable than that in New York. We haven’t had a “canicule” or heat wave this year so with the windows open on both sides of the apartment, the cross breeze has been enough to keep us cool. I stress that this is a good thing because air conditioners are not commonly found.

In French the word for weather is “temps” which makes sense since it’s like temperature. However, the weather ISN'T hot or cold, but rather it MAKES hot or cold, “il fait chaud” or “il fait froid.” (The weather is also masculine hence the word “il” for he). Similarly, one IS not hot or cold, but rather HAS hot or cold, “j’ai chaud” or “j’ai froid.”

Temps is also the word for time where “heure” or hour is more specifically used for telling the time. In this case, the time IS, not MAKES or HAS. So we’re looking forward to taking some time and hoping the weather still makes nice to enjoy our vacation at the end of the month.