Advertisement

French expression of the day: On verra

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
French expression of the day: On verra
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond"

If you want to convey a slight air of mystery when gazing into the future.

Advertisement

Why do I need to know on verra?

It's very commonly used, and it has nothing to do with regular verres (glasses).

What does it mean?

On verra is the French way of saying 'we'll see'.

On means 'we' or 'one' and verra is the future tense of voir, which means 'to see'.

On voit is the present tense, which means 'we see'.

French people use it all the time to signal uncertainty about a future event.

On verra bien ! literally translates to 'we'll see good', but really is more or less the equivalent of the English term 'we will just have to wait and see'.

Advertisement

Use it like this

Tu crois que la France va gagner contre l'Angleterre ce soir ? Difficile à dire, on verra bien ! - Do you think France will win against England tonight? Hard to say, we'll just have to wait and see!

Disons qu'on prevoit une balade dimanche et puis on verra s'il fait beau ou pas ? - Let's aim for a walk on Sunday and then we'll just see if the weather is nice or not? 

Oui, vas-y, il me parle bien ce resto. Dommage qu'il n'y a pas de menu en ligne, mais on y va et puis on verra s'ils ont des tarte tatins. Sinon, tant pis. - Yes, let's do it, I like the look of that restaurant. Shame that there's no online menu, but let's head over and then we'll just see if they have apple tarts. If not, never mind.

Or use it like this

You can also use on verra as a way of saying 'so that we can see' something (literally).

Mets une robe, comme ça on verra comme tes jambes sont bronzées ! - Put on a dress, that way we'll see how tanned your legs are.

 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also