Earning and Spending

You may be familiar with the common money-related verbs gagner (to earn) and dépenser (to spend). While straightforward in a financial context, these French verbs take on meanings that may surprise you when used in non-monetary settings.

Let’s start with the verb gagner, as in gagner de l’argent (to earn money). In the following video, Barbara is desperate to gagner un peu d’argent:

Il fallait absolument que je trouve un moyen de gagner un peu d'argent.

I absolutely had to find a way to earn a little money.

Caption 18, Mère & Fille Crazy Sitting

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We could say that Barbara is ready to start gagner sa vie (earning a living):

Barbara a hâte de pouvoir gagner sa vie comme sa maman.

Barbara can’t wait to earn a living like her mother.

Or Barbara could buy a lottery ticket instead, in hopes of gagner au loto (winning the lottery). That's exactly what happens to Sacha in this video:

Sacha a gagné au loto !

Sacha won the lottery!

Caption 7, Extr@ Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto - Part 5

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Here is something else you can gagner (win) in French: time! The phrase gagner du temps literally means "to win time," or “to gain time." ("To gain" is actually a cognate of gagner!) See how this cider manufacturer gagne du temps (gains time):

Donc, pour gagner un petit peu de temps, les pommes ont donc été préparées, nettoyées et coupées en morceaux.

So, to gain a little bit of time, the apples have therefore been prepared, cleaned and cut into chunks.

Captions 4-6, Frédéric La fabrication du jus de pomme - Part 1

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Gagner du temps also translates as “to save time,” depending on your perspective:

Je n'ai pas besoin de prendre les transports, donc je gagne beaucoup de temps sur ma journée.

I don't need to take public transportation, so I save a lot of time for my day.

Captions 55-56, Français avec Nelly Ma vie à Paris - Part 1

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As for “spending time," there are two ways of doing this in French: dépenser son temps (to use/spend one's time) or passer son temps (to pass one's time). The phrase dépenser son temps is not very common and is often used in a negative context. In the example below, time, like money, is considered a precious commodity that should not be wasted:

Ce n’est pas la peine de dépenser tout son temps à jouer aux jeux vidéos. 

It’s not worth spending all your time playing video games.

On the flip side, dépenser can also carry positive connotations, particularly regarding religious dedication:

L'homme doit dépenser tout son temps au service de Dieu.

Man must spend all his time serving God.

In most cases, however, French speakers use the phrase passer son temps to describe how they spend their time:

C'est un métier où on passe notre temps à ranger d'un côté sur l'autre,

It's a job where we spend our time putting things in place from one side to the other,

Captions 9-10, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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On the other hand, do use the verb dépenser (to spend) in a financial context. For example, in this video, dépenser de l’argent (spending money) is a fun activity for Barbara—until she realizes she has none left:

Si t'as dépensé ton argent, c'est ton problème.

If you spent your money, that's your problem.

Captions 33-34, Mère & Fille L'argent de poche

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Among other things, Barbara needs to watch her dépenses téléphoniques (phone expenses):

Pour maîtriser mes dépenses téléphoniques, ma mère avait opté pour un forfait commun.

To keep my phone expenses under control, my mother had opted for a family plan.

Captions 22-23, Mère & Fille Le coup de téléphone

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In French, it’s not just money that you can dépenser (spend). It’s also possible to se dépenser: literally “to expend energy on oneself,” or in other words, “to exercise” or “work out":

Et si vous alliez vous dépenser avec Maxime?

What if you went for a workout with Maxime?

Caption 60, Le Jour où tout a basculé Des hôtes pas comme les autres - Part 3

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In addition, se dépenser (exercising) is an opportunity to dépenser des calories (burn calories):

C'est mieux de... de faire ça, même si c'est calorique, c'est ci, c'est là... Non mais... -Tu les dépenses après.

It's better to... to do that, even if it's calorific, it's this, it's that... No but... -You use them up [burn them] afterward.

Captions 60-62, Sophie et Patrice Le petit-déjeuner

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Now that we’ve explored ways to gagner (earn, win) and dépenser (spend), how about discussing ways to “save” in a future lesson? Merci d’avoir passer du temps à lire cette leçon !