Chaque apres-midi OR L'apres-midi

L'apres-midi le grand-père dort.
I guess the meaning of the above is that 'the grand father sleeps in the afternoon'.

Does it mean a tradition or just a one-off?
I guess this is one-off.
You must write 'Chaque apres-midi le grand-père dort' to mention a tradition.
I am not sure. Please comment on this.

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Permalink Reply by Marc Vonhalmen on July 17, 2009 at 10:26pm

It could mean a one-off, but it sounds more like a tradition. In French, when you're just using a noun to describe the time in which the action takes place, you don't necessarily need to put "chaque" before (you can, but it's not necessary). For instance:
Le jeudi, je joue au tennis = Chaque jeudi, je joue au tennis = Tous les jeudis, je joue au tennis
But if you want to say that THIS Thursday you're playing tennis, you would say:
Jeudi, je joue au tennis (OR Ce jeudi, je joue au tennis)
So, in your example:
L'après-midi, le grand-père dort = Chaque après-midi, le grand-père dort.
If it was a one-off, it would rather be:
Cet après-midi, le grand-père dort.

Ce/cet/cette/ces + noun ----> one-off (usually)

Ce dimanche, ...
Ce matin, ....
Ce week-end, ...
Cette semaine, ...

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on July 17, 2009 at 11:33pm

Thanks Marc
You have explained it brilliantly. So I have to use 'ce' and 'cette' to mean the nature of one-off.

I play tennis on Thursdays. [ This implies every Thursday.]

I play tennis on Thursday. [ The coming Thursday ( 23rd of July 2009)