soit...soit versus soit...ou bien

[alan gould]

i believe to say "i'll come either today or tomorrow" is: 

je viendrai soit aujourd’hui soit demain.

do i have the option to say "....ou bien demain."?  if not, i'd like to see a usage of "soit...ou bien."  

merci d'avance.  

[George Hunt]

 I can't really be too  much help but I did a search on Google and  apparently the "soit.....soit" usage may actually be quite a modern innovation (going back to the 50 s, I think I can see  -as an alternative   to "ou bien -----ou bien")

http://www.languefrancaise.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9602

and also these results.

https://www.google.ie/search?q=soit...ou+bien.&oq=soit...ou+bie...*+ou+bien%22

Personally I would expect to have the first "soit" followed by a second "soit" -maybe because I have limited imagination ;-)

but I really have no idea how many versions of the usage are in play .......the French contributors will no doubt be more informative. 

[Jean Dervin]

According to Le Robert, the usage was recorded in 1175.  Not exactly modern.

[Stevo]

All shapes of “soit” are yet used nowadays in French. It’s a very ordinary word.

[Stevo]

Hi.

Here some usual examples with “soit” according to your request.

All of these sentences own exactly the same sense.

- “Je viendrai soit aujourd’hui, soit demain.”

- “Je viendrai soit aujourd’hui ou soit demain.”

- “Je viendrai soit aujourd’hui ou peut-être demain.”

---

- “Soit je viendrai aujourd’hui, soit demain.”

- “Soit je viendrai aujourd’hui ou soit demain.”

- “Soit je viendrai aujourd’hui ou demain.”

- “Soit je viendrai aujourd’hui ou bien demain.”

------

Just for memory :

“Soit” has also several homonyms. The first homonym is a verbal variante of “être” ( to be ) :

- “Il faut qu’il soit gentil.” > “He must be kind.”
* [ qu’il soit ]
* [ the English pronunciation most close to “soit” is : “soa” ]

- “Ne sois pas en retard”. > “Don’t be late.”
* [ que tu sois ]
* [ the English pronunciation most close to “sois” is : “soa” ]

---

The second homonym is a shot fixed expression :

- “Soit !” > “Okay! / OK! / I am agree.”
* [ the English pronunciation most close to “soit !” is : “saw-hat!” ]

[George Hunt]

Thanks. I did not realize  it  could be used in such a flexible way.

[Damien Roulin]

Hi ,

You can say " je viendrai aujourd'hui ou demain" , "je viendrai soit aujourd'hui soit demain" , "je viendrai aujourd'hui ou bien demain" , but not "je viendrai soit aujoud'hui ou bien demain" .

 

Cheers

[Stevo]

Really?

Sorry, I am not agree with you.