This French expression is a handy one for when you have messed up – and it’s actually one that French people also frequently make mistakes with.
Why do I need to know au temps pour moi?
The French use it all the time in daily conversations – whether they be formal or more casual. But you also need to know how to spell it correctly.
What does it mean?
The expression au temps pour moi, roughly pronounced oh tahn poor mwah (listen here), translates to “to the time for me”, but in reality it means “my mistake” or “I was wrong”.
This expression has military origins. It was used to instruct a soldier to restart a movement from the beginning after a mistake – au temps! The word temps (time) referred to a specific moment in a sequence, such as in a gymnastic or drill exercise.
The expression is used today to acknowledge an error and correct yourself.
There is another French expression, spelt autant pour moi, and it is pronounced the same way. Even French speakers will mistake the two spellings. However, this expression has a different meaning.
When you use autant pour moi, it can be rephrased as “same for me”. For example, in a restaurant, if someone orders one pizza and one drink, and you want the same, you can use autant pour moi.
In response to this spelling uncertainty, the Académie Française (the principal French council for matters about the French language) has made it clear that au temps pour moi is the only correct spelling when admitting a mistake.
Use it like this
Je me suis trompée, au temps pour moi. – I made a mistake, my bad.
Je pensais que la soirée commençait à 20 h. Au temps pour moi, je reviendrai plus tard. – I thought the party started at 8pm, my mistake, I’ll come back later.
Au temps pour moi, j’ai mal compris ta question. – My fault, I misunderstood your question.
