la tempête a frappé à Noël

G. D.C1Kwiziq community member

la tempête a frappé à Noël

In the first sentence, "la tempête [...] a frappé notre village à Noël," why do we use "à" here? Can you say, "la tempête a frappé le Noël"? Is "à" used with all holidays, e.g., "la tempête a frappé à Paques," etc.?

Asked 2 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Gee,

As Chris says, you have to use à with some celebration days like Christmas.

Take a look at the following lessons with examples of lots of them -

Which prepositions to use with celebration days - like Christmas - in French

Which prepositions to use with name days - like Saint Valentine's Day - in French

Hope this helps!

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

No, you need the preposition à in this case. Otherwise, Noel could be taken as a direct object, whereas it actually is an indirect object ("...the storm hit Christmas" versus "...the strom hit at Christmas").

G. D. asked:

la tempête a frappé à Noël

In the first sentence, "la tempête [...] a frappé notre village à Noël," why do we use "à" here? Can you say, "la tempête a frappé le Noël"? Is "à" used with all holidays, e.g., "la tempête a frappé à Paques," etc.?

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