Un 12.5

Frequency

To talk about routines and health regimes, it can be quite useful to describe how often an action is performed.

La fréquence

A common way to talk about how often something occurs is to use the adjective ‘chaque’ along with a word related to time. This combination is always in the singular.

e.g.

Je cours chaque matin.	I run every morning.
N’as-tu pas acheté une nouvelle voiture chaque décennie?	Didn’t you buy a new car every decade?
Elle s’entraîne dans la piscine chaque jour.	She trains in the pool every day.
Nous jouons aux cartes chaque vendredi.	We play cards every Friday.

To indicate how many times something takes place, the noun ‘fois’ is used with a number.

e.g.

Tu me l’as déjà demandé deux fois.	You’ve already asked me twice.
L’équipe a gagné le championnat cinq fois.	The team won the championship five times.

To show how many times something takes place in a given time period, the preposition ‘par’ is added in with a singular noun. If the time period involves more than one day, week, year, etc., the preposition ‘en’ is needed instead.

e.g.

Ma famille et moi jouions aux jeux de société trois fois par mois.	My family and I would play boardgames three times a month.
Malheureusement, mon équipe préférée n’a gagné qu’une fois en cinq semaines.	Sadly, my favourite team only won once in five weeks.

The adjective ‘tout’ can also be used to describe how frequently a single action occurs. In this case, the time expression is in the plural, and grammatical gender needs to be considered.

e.g.

On a des réunions toutes les deux semaines.	We have meetings every other week.
Bah, non, il faut boire de l’eau tous les jours.	Of course not, you have to drink water every day.
Je pense qu’il appelle sa mère toutes les trente minutes.	I think he calls his mom every half hour.

There is also a grouping of adjectives and adverbs that are used to indicate how often actions and events take place. Many of the adjectives can be transformed into adverbs to describe verbs, although the corresponding adjective form is more common. All typical grammar rules about location and grammatical agreement apply.

e.g.

J’aime notre discussion quotidienne.	I like our daily chat.
On va se parler pendant le match hebdomadaire.	We’ll talk (together) during the weekly game.
On paie mensuellement.	People pay monthly.

Here is a short list of such adjectives and adverbs:

quotidien(ne) quotidiennement	chaque jour ; tous les jours
hebdomadaire hebdomadairement	chaque semaine ; toutes les semaines
mensuel(le) mensuellement	chaque mois ; tous les mois
annuel(le) annuellement	chaque an ; tous les ans
toujours	always
fréquemment	frequently
régulièrement	regularly
souvent	often
parfois	sometimes
rarement	rarely
jamais	never
de temps en temps	from time to time ; every now and then