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Qàtrè
Qàtrè
12:30
@jlliagre Well, I've always loved Norse myths!
Qàtrè
Qàtrè
12:45
*** Aujourd'hui, nous sommes samedi. ***
Hello. I know that "Nous sommes Samedi." means "It's saturday.", but I would like to know is there any historical or linguistic reason that can explain why do frenchmen use this kind of sentences to tell the names of the days of the week?
 
3 hours later…
Evpok
Evpok
15:44
@Qàtrè What do you mean “this kind”?
jlliagre
jlliagre
16:22
@Qàtrè French people are not the only ones saying "nous sommes + jour de la semaine" See french.stackexchange.com/questions/11830/…
Evpok
Evpok
17:01
@Qàtrè I don't understand what you are asking, why should it be something else?
 
2 hours later…
Qàtrè
Qàtrè
19:27
@Evpok As our groupmate @jlliagre wrote, "nous sommes + jour de la semaine".
Luke Sawczak
Luke Sawczak
@Qàtrè "nous sommes samedi" IS "nous sommes + jour de la semaine" !
Qàtrè
Qàtrè
@Evpok Really is that so hard to understand? I ask this, because the sentence "Nous sommes Samedi" literally means "We are Saturday"! Is it not a bit strange?
@jlliagre Merci beaucoup pour votre aide !
Luke Sawczak
Luke Sawczak
@Evpok I agree with Qatrè from the perspective of a non-native... From my point of view, it sounds pretty odd. Unlike "late" or "on time", the day of the week conceptually is impersonal to us. Instinctively we'd prefer "C'est lundi" or something. Much like "Il neige" or "Il fait beau" -- the current time is as much a matter of universal forces as the weather!
Qàtrè
Qàtrè
@LukeSawczak Have I said something different? It seems that you have not read my question before trying to respond.
Luke Sawczak
Luke Sawczak
When I do use this structure, I tend towards "on est samedi" since at least "on" carries a hint of it not being us personally, but I can accept that "nous sommes" is the idiomatic variant
@Qàtrè (I read your remark "as our groupmate" as in response to Evpok's 2nd question, not his first. My mistake)
Qàtrè
Qàtrè
19:33
@LukeSawczak OK thank you for your response.
 
2 hours later…
jlliagre
jlliagre
21:19
:54301249 *On est samedi* is perfectly idiomatic and the usual way to say it orally.
*Nous sommes samedi* is the equivalent when talking formally or in written French.
I don't believe that this *on* is really impersonal, it essentially means "I and everyone around now".
We can also say *nous sommes/on est le lundi 4 mai*.
*On* and *nous* are the only possible subjects in these expressions.
*Je suis samedi*, *tu es samedi*, *vous êtes samedi* or *ils sont samedi* would be, for native speakers, as puzzling as *nous sommes samedi* is for a non native person.
A reason is probably the lack of preposition that suggests there is some sort of identity between *nous* and *samedi*.
A preposition removes this issue in *nous sommes en France*, *nous sommes en 2020*, *nous sommes en mai*, *nous sommes au printemps* just like does *in* in English (we are in France/in 2020/in May, in Spring). There is no preposition suitable with a day of week, *nous sommes en lundi* is no more acceptable t…
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