Difference between en and dans (FLTEACH)

Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 01:03:52 -0500From: Barbara Long Subject: Re: French Grammar question---the difference between "en" and "dans"Generally "en" is within a certain period of time Ex. Je peux faire cela en trois heures (in 3 hours' time)"dans" is by the end of a certain amount of time.ex: Il aura fini dans 3 heures (3 hours from now)Manuel de composition Française 2e éd. Pierre limouzy et J. Bourgeacq p. 208And in Harperès Grammar of French, p. 307: with units of time, en indicates the period needed to accomplish an action (I use the idea within) and dans indicates the period at the end of which an action will take place (I use the idea of after)Ex. Vers 1930, on a construit des paquebots pouvant traverser l'Atlantique en huit jours. Dépêchons-nous! L'avion part dans quelques minutes.I particularly like the Harperès book because my students use it as reference as it is written in English with examples in French. They take it with them when they do their study abroad as well. Hope this helpsBarbara Longbplong@adelphia.net (home)blong@bridgewater.edu (school)