La journée et le soir

Question

I am a little confused about the use of la journée and le soir in this text. 'During the day' (Pendant la journée) is feminine - I understand this as she is discussing a length of time rather than a specific point in time. I don't understand why 'in the evening' (le soir) is not 'la soirée' - what distinguishes these two statements to make the switch from feminine to masculine? Is it the preceding "during" and "in"?

Thanks in advance!

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Rachael,
 
Thank you for your excellent question!
Le soir means the specific moment at the end of the daytime.
La soirée means the time between the end of the daytime and the moment you go to bed. La soirée is the direct opposite to la matinée = the morning time.
 
In the evening = le soir
During the evening = pendant / durant la soirée
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée!

Answer

I think there is a slight asymmetry between the use of jour/journée and soir/soirée, in that la soirée also means a "dinner party". Maybe it is because of this that one often uses le soir where one would, during the day, rather use pendant la journée.