Seasons in French: names, au printemps and en été

The four seasons in French

In the pronunciation column, (n) marks a nasal vowel: air goes through the nose and the n itself is not pronounced. The stressed syllable is in capitals, but French stress is light: keep the syllables even.

Silent letters are the trap here. In printemps, neither the p nor the s is pronounced: the word ends on a nasal vowel. In automne, the m is silent, so it rhymes with bonne. In hiver, the h is silent and the final r is sounded.

Because été, automne and hiver begin with a vowel sound, the article becomes l’, and liaisons appear: en été sounds like “ah(n)-nay-TAY”, les hivers like “lay-zee-VAIR”.

The word for “season” is la saison, which is feminine, even though all four seasons are masculine: les quatre saisons.

Au printemps, en été: the prepositions

1. Au for spring only. Au printemps, les arbres fleurissent. Printemps starts with a consonant, so French uses au (à + le).
2. En for the other three. en été, en automne, en hiver. All three start with a vowel sound, and the n of en is carried over in liaison.
3. No preposition with dernier or prochain. l’été dernier (last summer), l’hiver prochain (next winter).
4. “This summer” is cet été. Before a vowel sound, ce becomes cet: cet été, cet automne, cet hiver, but ce printemps.
5. Keep the article as a subject. J’aime l’hiver. L’automne est ma saison préférée. Note préférée: it agrees with saison, which is feminine.
6. Lower case. No capital letters, except at the start of a sentence.

A handy trick for pupils: au printemps is the odd one out. Learn it as a fixed chunk, like a song title, and use en everywhere else.

Other useful phrases: au début de l’été (at the beginning of summer), à la fin de l’hiver (at the end of winter), pendant l’hiver (during the winter), en plein été (in the middle of summer).

When do the seasons start?

In everyday French the seasons follow the astronomical calendar: equinoxes (l’équinoxe) and solstices (le solstice). The exact day moves slightly from year to year, so these dates are approximate.

Meteorologists also count meteorological seasons from the 1st of the month: 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December in the northern hemisphere.

Seasons across the French-speaking world

Several French territories are south of the equator: La Réunion, Mayotte, New Caledonia and French Polynesia. There, l’été runs over December, January and February, and Christmas is a summer holiday.

In the tropics, people talk about a dry season and a rainy season rather than four seasons. In the French Caribbean, the dry season is called le carême and the rainy season l’hivernage. In Senegal too, l’hivernage is the rainy season. It is a false friend for pupils, as it has nothing to do with winter cold.

In Quebec, a warm spell in autumn is l’été des Indiens; in France you will hear l’été indien.

Words that go with the seasons

• le printemps: les fleurs (flowers), il fait doux (it’s mild), il pleut (it’s raining). Adjective: printanier, printanière.
• l’été: les grandes vacances (the summer holidays), la plage, il fait chaud. Adjective: estival, estivale.
• l’automne: les feuilles mortes (fallen leaves), la rentrée (back to school), il y a du vent. Adjective: automnal, automnale.
• l’hiver: la neige, il neige, il fait froid, Noël. Adjective: hivernal, hivernale.

En hiver, il fait froid et il neige parfois.In winter it’s cold and it sometimes snows.

Ma saison préférée, c’est l’été, parce qu’il n’y a pas d’école.My favourite season is summer, because there’s no school.

L’automne commence en septembre.Autumn starts in September.

L’été dernier, je suis allé en Bretagne.Last summer I went to Brittany.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Wrong preposition: “en printemps” or “dans l’été”. It is au printemps and en été.
• Pronouncing silent letters: the p and s of printemps, or the m of automne.
• No elision: “le été”, “le hiver”. Before a vowel sound, le becomes l’.
• “Ce été”: the demonstrative must be cet before a vowel.
• Gender: “la hiver”, or an adjective that doesn’t agree with saison: “ma saison préféré”.
• Capitals: “Été” in the middle of a sentence.

In class: the season in the date routine

A class that says the date at the start of every lesson can add the season in a few seconds. That turns one lesson on the seasons into dozens of short, meaningful repetitions.

1. Display today’s date in figures only.
2. Ask Quelle est la date aujourd’hui ? and let the class build the sentence aloud.
3. Add En quelle saison sommes-nous ? The class answers Nous sommes en automne.
4. Reveal the full written answer: pupils check au or en, and the spelling.
5. On the days the season changes, ask about La Réunion as well: Et à La Réunion ?

This is exactly what a daily routine does: the season stops being a vocabulary list and becomes part of a sentence pupils say every day.

Alongside the routine, try a survey (Quelle est ta saison préférée ? Pourquoi ?), seasons and clothes (En hiver, je porte un bonnet.), or a chant that drills au printemps, en été, en automne, en hiver.

Adapting to your class

• A1Name the season: Nous sommes en automne.
• A2Add the weather: En automne, il pleut et il y a du vent.
• B1Memories and habits: L’été dernier, je suis allé(e) à la mer., En hiver, on faisait du ski.
• B2Full date with season and week number: Nous sommes le mercredi 30 septembre, en automne, semaine 40.

At KS2, pictures and a song are enough. At KS3, drill au printemps against en été until it is automatic. At GCSE, use the seasons to practise tenses: L’été dernier…, L’hiver prochain, je vais…

Frequently asked questions