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How to Say ‘No, come directly before noon.’ in French

Non, venez directement avant midi.

noh veh-neh dee-rek-tuh-MAHN a-VAHN mee-DEE

[noh veh-neh dee-rek-tuh-MAHN a-VAHN mee-DEE]

Phrase Breakdown

Non, venez directement

noh veh-neh dee-rek-tuh-MAHN

No, come directly

'Non' is said with a nasal vowel, and the final 'n' isn't pronounced. 'Venez' is the polite or plural imperative of 'venir' (to come). It sounds like 'vuh-NAY', with a silent final 'z'. In 'directement' the final 'ent' is a nasal sound and the 't' is silent: 'dee-rek-tuh-MAHN'.

Example

Venez directement chez moi.

Come directly to my place.

Words in this phrase

Non

[noh]

Used to give a negative response.

Example

Non, je ne veux pas.

No, I don't want to.

venez

[veh-neh]

Come

To move towards or arrive at a place.

Example

Venez ici, s'il vous plaît.

Come here, please.

directement

[dee-rek-tuh-MAHN]

directly

Adverb: straight away, without an intermediate step.

Example

Allez directement au guichet.

Go directly to the counter.

avant midi.

a-VAHN mee-DEE

before noon.

'Avant' means 'before'. It has a nasal ending with a silent 't': 'ah-VAHN'. 'Midi' means 'noon' and is pronounced 'mee-DEE'. Say the two words smoothly together.

Example

Je pars avant midi.

I'm leaving before noon.

Words in this phrase

avant

[a-VAHN]

before

Means earlier in time, previously.

Example

Avant, je tombais beaucoup.

Before, I fell a lot.

midi

[mee-DEE]

noon / midday

Twelve o'clock in the daytime.

Example

On mange à midi.

We eat at noon.

Guides for French learners

The Most Common French Verbs: the 20 You'll Actually UseThe 20 most common French verbs, with the present-tense forms you need, real example sentences with native audio, and two shortcuts for past and future.Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.

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