Goals
What you'll be able to do- 📺 Read a provocative ad
- 🎤 Understand a radio feature on part-time work
- ⏰ Talk about your work hours and how the workplace has changed
- 📚 Form and use -ment adverbs (the equivalent of English "-ly")
- 🚧 Use ne… que (= only) and ne… pas que
- 📅 Use depuis + duration and non seulement… mais aussi…
- 🎵 Catch adverbs by ear
Discover · The world is changing…
An ad and a radio feature1.1 · The KIAT ad
« Les femmes ne s'intéressent plus qu'à leur voiture. »
Modèle MERIDA · KIAT
📌 The image: in the original ad, you see a man ironing shirts. The slogan plays on the role-reversal — "Women only care about their cars now" (so the men are doing the ironing). The literal English would be: "Women now only care about their car."
1.1 · What is the slogan really saying?
The ad is mostly trying to show:
1.2 · …and mindsets are evolving · Radio feature
1.2.1 · True, false, or not stated?
- Part-time work has risen in almost every European country.
- It's in the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden that part-time workers are most common.
- Part-time work first appeared in the poorest countries.
- Thomas took parental leave after Caroline was born.
- Thomas now works part-time at a library.
- Everyone around Thomas agrees with his choice.
📊 Part-time work in Europe (Eurostat 2024)
Share of total employment that's part-time — updated figures
💡 French work-week context: France has had a legal 35-hour work week since 2000 (les 35 heures). Anything over that earns overtime or gets compensated with extra paid days off called RTT (Réduction du Temps de Travail). So when a French speaker says "je travaille à temps partiel", the baseline they're shrinking from is 35 hours — not the 40 hours common in the US/UK. Mi-temps = roughly 17.5 h/week.
Vocabulary
Words to remember| French | Type | English |
|---|---|---|
| l'Angleterre | n.f. | England |
| la bibliothèque | n.f. | library (⚠ false friend — not "bookshop"!) |
| au commencement | phrase | at first, in the beginning |
| un congé | n.m. | leave; time off |
| un congé parental | n.m. | parental leave |
| depuis | prep. | since, for (with ongoing situations) |
| différemment | adv. | differently |
| facilement | adv. | easily |
| grand(e) | adj. | big; grown up |
| interroger | v.t. | to question, to interview |
| maritime | adj. | maritime, coastal |
| à mi-temps / à temps partiel | phrase | part-time |
| une nourrice | n.f. | nanny, childminder |
| s'occuper de | refl. v. | to look after, to take care of |
| les Pays-Bas | n.m. pl. | the Netherlands |
| une réaction | n.f. | a reaction |
| réagir | v. | to react |
| une situation | n.f. | situation |
| une solution | n.f. | solution |
| la Suède | n.f. | Sweden |
| surprenant(e) | adj. | surprising |
| une surprise | n.f. | a surprise |
| un travailleur / une travailleuse | n. | worker |
| évoluer | v. | to evolve, to change over time |
| les mentalités | n.f. pl. | mindsets, attitudes |
Grammar
How French works3.1 · Forming -ment adverbs (the French "-ly")
Most French adverbs in -ment are built from the feminine form of the adjective + -ment. They map almost one-to-one to English -ly adverbs (quickly, slowly, frankly…).
| Rule | Adj. masc. | Adj. fem. | Adverb |
|---|---|---|---|
| General case: feminine + -ment | froid | froide | froidement (coldly) |
| same | franc | franche | franchement (frankly) |
| same | doux | douce | doucement (gently) |
| Adj. ending in a vowel (masc.) | vrai | vraie | vraiment (truly) — no -e- |
| same | poli | polie | poliment (politely) |
| Adj. ending in -ant ⇒ -amment | élégant | — | élégamment (elegantly) |
| Adj. ending in -ent ⇒ -emment | récent | — | récemment (recently) |
| same | fréquent | — | fréquemment (frequently) |
| Special cases in -ément | énorme | — | énormément (enormously) |
| same | précis | précise | précisément (precisely) |
⚠️ Watch the pronunciation: -amment and -emment are both pronounced [amɑ̃] (with an a sound). Spelling differs, sound is identical.
3.2 · Restriction · ne… que = only
The structure ne… que = "only". que sits directly in front of the word being restricted. It looks like a negation but isn't one — French could equally well use seulement.
- Je ne travaille que trois jours par semaine. — "I only work three days a week."
- Elle n'a invité que ses amis. — "She invited only her friends."
- Il ne s'intéresse plus qu'à sa voiture. — "He's only interested in his car now."
ne… pas que = "not only" (the negation of ne…que):
- Je n'ai pas que des amis ici, j'ai aussi de la famille. — "I don't only have friends here, I also have family."
3.3 · depuis + duration · the major anglophone trap
depuis marks the starting point of an action that is still going on right now. Crucially, French uses the présent here — where English uses the present perfect ("I have been learning…").
- J'apprends le français depuis 5 ans.
= "I have been learning French for 5 years." (still learning now)
⚠️ NOT "*J'ai appris le français depuis 5 ans" — that would suggest the learning has stopped. - Depuis dix minutes, elle ne dit que ça. — "She's been saying nothing else for ten minutes."
- Depuis les années 80, le travail à temps partiel a augmenté. — "Since the 80s, part-time work has increased."
💡 Two patterns: depuis 3 ans (duration: "for 3 years") or depuis 2020 (point in time: "since 2020"). English splits these into "for" vs "since"; French uses depuis for both.
3.4 · non seulement… mais aussi… = "not only… but also…"
One-to-one match with English. The second element reinforces or adds to the first.
- Le travail à temps partiel a augmenté non seulement en France, mais aussi dans presque tous les pays européens. — "Part-time work has risen not only in France, but also in almost every European country."
- Il est non seulement intelligent, mais aussi très gentil.
Practice
Try it out4.1 · -ment adverbs Turn adjective into adverb
Turn each adjective into the matching adverb.
- doux →
- franc →
- vrai →
- récent →
- fréquent →
- élégant →
- précis →
- facile →
4.2 · Just that! · ne… que "Only…"
Rewrite the sentences with ne… que. Type the verb with the negation and que in the right place.
Example: Vous travaillez seulement le matin ? → Vous ne travaillez que le matin ?
- Je vois mes enfants seulement le soir. → Je mes enfants le soir.
- Elle gagne seulement 1 500 € par mois. → Elle 1 500 € par mois.
- Il a seulement une semaine de congé. → Il une semaine de congé.
- Je commence à 6 h du matin. (= only at 6!) → Je à 6 h du matin !
- Maintenant, j'achète seulement bio. → Maintenant, je du bio.
4.3 · Spot the structure What does it mean?
- "Le travail à temps partiel a augmenté non seulement en France, mais aussi en Allemagne." expresses:
- "J'apprends le français depuis 5 ans" means:
- "Il ne travaille qu'à temps partiel" =
- "Il ne travaille pas qu'à temps partiel, il a aussi un projet personnel" =
Communicate
Real-world tasks🗣️ 5.1 · Your turn
With a partner, answer the following:
- Do you (or have you) worked part-time? How many hours per week?
- In your country, do many people work part-time? For what reasons?
- Are there many stay-at-home dads where you live? What about France?
- How many days of paid leave do you (will you) get per year?
- Would you like to work part-time? What would you do with the free time?
🎭 5.2 · Disagreement! · Role play
Pick one of the two roles. Then act out the scene with a partner.
🅰️ You are the employee
You're talking to your boss about your situation. You want to cut your hours to spend more time with family / write a book / travel. You ask to switch to part-time.
🅱️ You are the boss
Someone on your team wants to cut their hours. Hear them out. Decide whether to say yes or no and justify it (workload, business needs…).
Pronunciation · Quelle surprise !
Catching the adverb6.1 · Spot the adverb
Listen to the sentences and identify the -ment adverb you hear.
- « Je suis parti tout de suite, …………… »
- « Le travail à temps partiel a augmenté …………… en France. »
- « Allez voir le docteur si vous y allez …………… »
- « Les gens réagissent ………………… »
- « Tu dois lui parler ……………. »
- « Je voudrais lui parler ………………… »
📌 Pronunciation tip
Adverbs ending in -amment and -emment are both pronounced [amɑ̃].
▶︎ élégamment [eleɡamɑ̃]
▶︎ récemment [ʁesamɑ̃]
▶︎ différemment [difeʁamɑ̃]
The spellings differ but the sound is identical — a frequent French spelling-bee gotcha.