Thought “dans” was used when it is an event in the future???? Am I wrong to assume this???
EN v DANS
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Wendy C.Kwiziq community member
EN v DANS
This question relates to:French lesson "En vs Dans with time (French Prepositions of Time)"
Asked 3 years ago
Using en as a temporal preposition means "whithin a certain timeframe", which can also be translated as "in" (although "within" is usually better), just as dans. However, they are not interchangeable.
Nous mangeons dans une heure. -- We're eating in one hour (if it is 11 am now, we will eat at noon).
Nous mangeons en une heure. -- We are eating within one hour (no matter what time it is when we start eating, we'll be finished within one hour).
Maarten K. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
It is, but this is not exclusive to “dans”, and it is used in the way Chris notes.
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