How To Say ‘Now’ in French

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If you’d like to say “now” in French, you’d usually say maintenant—It’s the first word you’ll see when you search the definition of “now” in any French dictionary. While “now” is a short word in English, you’ll have to get used to using longer words and even multi-word phrases to express “now” when speaking French. Dive into the different options for how to say “now” in French. 

The most common way to say ‘now’ in French: maintenant

In French, the word maintenant is an adverb, which means it can modify or qualify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. According to FrenchDictionary.com, maintenant can mean: 

• at the present time (right now)
• nowadays
• then (in accounts of the past)

So, if you’re talking about something happening right now, you might say, Qu’est-ce que tu fais maintenant ? (What are you doing now?) And if you’re talking about “now” in terms of something modern, you might say something like, Maintenant la plupart des écoliers ont des calculatrices. (Most schoolchildren now own calculators.)

To pronounce maintenant, you say “man-teh-nahn” with very soft “n” sounds at the end of syllables. 

Using maintenant as a conjunction

The word maintenant can also be used as a conjunction, which connects clauses or sentences. When used as this French part of speech, you’d say maintenant que (because or since something has happened; now that).

For example: 

• Maintenant qu’il se sent mieux, il peut reprendre le travail. = Now that he’s feeling better, he can go back to work. 
• Maintenant que j’ai vu le film, je vois ce que tu veux dire. = Now that I’ve seen the movie, I see what you mean.
• Maintenant que j’y pense, c’est une bonne idée. = Now that I think about it, it’s a good idea.