Je serai sûrement en retard d'un quatre d'heure

Question

Shouldn't it be 'Je serai sûrement en retard un quatre d'heure,' since the article states être en retard (without the de) is a possibility?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Tamani !You can use en retard on its own to express simply "[I'm] late".However, if you want to be more precise and add how long you're late for, then you will need to use "en retard de + [duration]" :
Je suis en retard à mon rendez-vous.Je suis en retard de dix minutes à mon rendez-vous.
See also : https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-express-timeliness-late-early-on-time-generalI hope that's helpful!À bientôt !

Answer

Thank you, that is helpful! So it seems that the article is incorrect where it says: 'To indicate the degree of timeliness...you can use these two expressions avoir (5 mins) de retard/d'avance or être EN RETARD/en avance de (5 mins).' N'est-ce pas?

Answer

Hello Tamani. Note that the final "de" belongs to both "en retard" and "en avance". That slash can be somewhat confusing. You should read that text as these four options:
"avoir 5 mins de retard", "avoir 5 mins d'avance", "être en retard de 5 mins", "être en avance de 5 mins".

Answer

Bonjour David. Yes I see that the slash doesn't make it entirely clear. But I've got it now. Thanks!