toujours

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See also: toûjours

French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle French tousjours, from Old French toz jorz, tuzjurz (without ceasing, literally all days). By surface analysis, tous +‎ jours (compare Dutch altijd (always), Danish altid (always)). Replaced Old French sempres (always), from Latin semper.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /tu.ʒuʁ/
  • As with most words in -rs, there is no liaison with that which follows, e.g. toujours ici will be pronounced as [tu.ʒu.ʁ‿i.si].
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -uʁ

Adverb

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toujours

  1. always
    Antonym: jamais
    Il est toujours en retard.He is always late.
    Parfois, peut-être même souvent, mais certainement pas toujours
    Sometimes, maybe even often, but certainly not always
  2. still
    Synonym: encore
    • 2010, Björn Larsson, translated from Swedish by Philippe Bouquet, Les poètes morts n'écrivent pas de romans policiers
      Un homme que l’on pourrait croire sorti tout droit de la Renaissance, et qui a été assassiné en 1975, pour des raisons qui n’ont toujours pas été élucidées.
      A man who you might think came straight out of the Renaissance, and who was assassinated in 1975, for reasons which still haven't been elucidated.
    Je suis toujours là.I'm still here.
    Elle n’est toujours pas revenue.She still hasn't come back.

Usage notes

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  • In negative constructions, the position of the negating element pas is different in each sense:
    • pas toujoursnot always
    • toujours passtill not

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Swedish

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Etymology

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From French "toujours (aimable)". Attested since 1840.

Adjective

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toujours

  1. (rare, only used predicatively) sociable and nice

References

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