This lesson looks at several ways to use the conjunction tant que, which has many meanings including “as long as”, “since” and “as much as”.
tant que
as long as, since, as much as
Tant que
Word origin
The Modern French word tant (so, so much) comes from tantum (so, to that point or extent) in Latin.
Example sentences
Tant que tu fais la tête, tu ne joueras pas avec les autres enfants.
As long as you’re sulking, you won’t play with the other kids.
Je ne travaille pas tant que mes collègues.
I don’t work as much as my colleagues.
For these next two sentences, a loose translation of tant que ca is “that much”.
Est-ce qu’il est beau? – Pas tant que ça.
Is he handsome? – Not really.
Il y a has several usages in French including “there is, there are” and “ago”. For this sentence, il y a déjà can tranlslate to “it’s already been”.
Il y a déjà 20 ans. – Tant que ça ?
It’s alerady been 20 years. – That long?
More conjunctions
- Car (conjunction) – because, for, as
- Tandis que – whereas, while
- Quoique – even though, although
- Pour que – so that, in order that
- Pourvu que – Provided that
- Bien que – Even though, although
- Cependant – However, yet, nevertheless
Reference
Word of the Day | Lessons by David Issokson
