toujours

See also: toûjours

French

Alternative forms

• toûjours (obsolete)
• tousjours (obsolete)

Etymology

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. Cognate with Catalan and Occitan totjorn.

Pronunciation

• 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:

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• Rhymes: -uʁ

Adverb

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

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

Derived terms

• cause toujours
• de toujours
• depuis toujours
• encore et toujours
• toujours est-il que

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: toujou

Further reading

• “toujours”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Swedish

Etymology

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

Adjective

toujours

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

References

• “toujours”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “toujours”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)