How do you say '15 days' in French?

Question

As quinze jours means a fortnight I was wondering what the French would say for 15 days?

So......If you were to say to somebody: 'I'm going away for a fortnight' in French, they could think you meant 15 days or 14 days :S Weird language!

Answer 1

You have to think about this carefully. In English, a fortnight is literally 14days and nights. A fortnights holiday however, will traditionally encroach into a fifteenth day, e.g. travel on a Saturday and return on a Saturday. This tradition is similar in France, but their term for a two week holiday period is 'une vacance de quinze-jours', French reasoning encompasses the 15th day as a matter of course.
The French might also say 'une vacance, quinzaine de jours', a bit more formal, but it means the same thing.
'Quinze-jours' in the sense of it meaning a fortnight, although it appears to be two separate words, is in effect just one noun. If a French person says 'quinze jours', (unhyphenated)',to a question not related to a holiday period, then it literally means 15 days; the two words then being grammatically separate.
Hope this explains it.

Best of luck with your French.

Answer 2

Quinze jours means "two weeks" in American English. Americans never say a fortnight. If you count two weeks on your fingers, it weirdly comes to 15 days. If you want to translate 15 days you would also say quinze jours.

Answer 3

Quinze exactly means fifteen. So quinze jours is more appropriate for 15 days.

Answer 4

A forthnight means "quinze jours" and "une quinzaine", which is the same! So for 15 days, the French say "quinze jours" as well.

Hope it helps!

Answer 5

une quinzaine is the french phrase used to describe a fortnight. so quinze jours should mean 15 days.

Answer 6

I think they have to say something like "quinze jours, mais vraiment quinze". I've asked French speakers this question and they get all flustered.

I think if you said "Je pars pendant quinze jours" they'd understand it as 14 days. Sorry, I'm Canadian, can't bring myself to say "a fortnight".

Editing again, because I'm annoyed about all the thumbs-downs. Maybe it's more in Switzerland that people really do say "quinze jours" for two weeks, in non-holiday situations. I'm in a French club that meets every two weeks, and they say we meet "tous les quinze jours".

Answer 7

Les quinze jours.

Answer 8

15 jours exactly
une quinzaine is more or less 15 days

Answer 9

15 days, you can translate 15 jours or quinzaine.

Answer 10

quinze jours
une quinzaine de jours
deux semaines