French word

quelquefois

Pronunciation

IPA/kɛlkəfwa/

Meaning

  • adverbsometimes

Example

Je vais quelquefois au cinéma le week-end.

I sometimes go to the movies on weekends.

Illustration for quelquefois (sometimes)

More examples

Elle téléphone quelquefois à sa mère le soir.

She sometimes calls her mother in the evening.

Core concept

Several isolated points on a timeline mark events that recur now and then.

Common phrases

  • quelquefois au travail

    sometimes at work

  • quelquefois le matin

    sometimes in the morning

Similar words

parfois: Taking place now and then.
de temps en temps: Taking place occasionally, with some time between instances.
des fois: A familiar spoken expression for occasional occurrence.

Definition in French

Signale qu'une action se répète parfois, sans cadence fixe.

Word origin

The adverb quelquefois developed from the combination of quelque and fois, whose basic sense is "some times" or "some occasions."

Usage tips

  • Quelquefois can often be replaced by parfois, while des fois is more conversational and is common in informal speech.

Opposites

Word lists with this word