Language/French/Grammar/ensuite-VS-puis

"Ensuite" VS "Puis" in French

Rule

"Ensuite" and "Puis" both mean 'afterwards, then'.

However, "Ensuite" is a time adverb which can occur in the middle of a clause (for the position of adverbs), while "Puis" is a coordinating conjunction which can occur only at the beginning of a clause.

Therefore "Ensuite" and "Puis" are not always interchangeable.

In grammatical terms, "Ensuite" is an adverb whereas "Puis" is a conjunction. As a conjunction, "Puis" joins sentences together. That means it cannot simply be added at the end of a sentence, which "Ensuite" can.

"Puis" is also often used for more logical (i.e. not strictly temporal) sequences.

See the examples below:

Examples

• Il a payé l'addition, et il est ensuite parti

He paid the bill, and afterwards left

• Qu’est-ce qu’il a fait ensuite ? works, NOT Qu’est-ce qu’il a fait puis ?

What did he do next?

• Il a payé l'addition, puis il est parti

He paid the bill, then he left

• Il y a beaucoup de musées à Paris, puis il y a les parcs

There are a lot of museums in Paris, then there are the parks

Other Lessons

• Problems with passive different direct objects
• Easy way of generating the Future and Conditional
• Stressed pronouns with même, aussi, seul, autres, tous and numerals
• Conjugation group 2 — verbs whose infinitive ends in —ir
• Definite and indefinite articles
• Comparatives and Superlatives
• Easy way of generating the imperative mood
• Use of en
• The plural indefinite article des
• Reflexive use of me, te, se, nous, vous
• How to use Have
• Order of multiple pronouns with imperatives
• Adjectives agreeing with just one noun
• Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
• Indefinite article