What does the French expression au cas où mean? Click the link above to learn all about it, and then come back here to share your thoughts.
More: French expressions | Common French phrases
More: French expressions | Common French phrases
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Laura, Your site is top notch, a joy to explore. But I don’t understand the expression “dès fois que” with an accent on “des.” Thanks for further input on that one.
I don’t detect liaison between cas and où in the sound file. Is this correct or am I hearing it wrong?
I, too, am always curious about that liaison when speaking French. Sometimes, it seems it’s not done, making it awkard to pronounce certain phrases
My understanding is that the liaison is generally forbidden after a noun, however there are a few exceptions. Most notably the one that comes to mind is “États-Unis”. One I noticed during the Olympic Games earlier this year was “jeux olympiques” which, with the liaison, sounds awfully close to “juges olympiques”.
I’ve always pronounced “au cas où” as indicated in the article, but my French teacher makes the liason between “cas” et “où.” Perhaps it’s a regional difference (my French class is in Strasbourg), or perhaps generational. But I’ll stick with the non-liaised pronunciation, because “o ka zoo” sounds a little stilted to me.
C’est très intéressant ! J’essayais d’écrire un e-mail à une prof de français il y a trois jours et j’avais besoin de cette expression, mais je n’ai alors trouvé que “à tout hasard.” Je suis content d’apprendre qu’on peut dire simplement “au cas où” même quand rien ne suit !
Aussi, depuis que j’ai lu votre section sur la liaison, je le remarque chaque fois que ma prof de français fait la liaison avec un nom après “et,” et cela m’énerve !
Je ne veux pas la corriger, bien sûr, donc je dois l’entendre de temps en temps.
Ça va tout le monde,
Au sujet de, au cas où… je crois que la structure est (au cas ou + subjonctif) comme tu le détaille sur la page, mais tu as écrit <> (au cas ou + conditionnel) tu peux vérifier et me corriger ou m’aider parce que je ne rappelle plus la structure.
Merci
Achille
ps: au cas ou, on fait jamais liaison, c’est une exception et cela je suis sûr!
La construction “en cas” existe aussi en français,mais suivie par “de”
En cas de problème,téléphone moi .
I’m having a bit of problem with this expression. I’m learning French now, and in text books I tend to see the expression of au cas où and en cas où used as well. I’ve tried to find answers to what difference there is between them, or if there’s any way to tell when to use which to no wail. I even consulted a private teacher who told me even grammar books state they are synonyms and cannot tell how to tell which one to pick during an exam if both is an option to pick (in a fill in the blank test). So I’d like to ask if you could help and enlighten me about the difference between the 2, since I have no idea where to turn but I’m afraid to make a really stupid mistake if I just randomly pick them. For your help thank you in advance!
Bonjour Lilla,
I have never in my life heard en cas où, but in the examples I found on Google, it means *exactly* the same thing as au cas où. On the other hand, en cas de is fairly common. The difference is that au cas où is either followed by a subject + verb or, informally, at the end of a sentence (you can see examples of both in my lesson). In comparison, en cas de means “in case of” and can only be followed by a noun, e.g., en cas d’urgence – in case of emergency.