‘Il était une fois’ is the french equivalent of ‘once upon a time’. The il doesn’t refer to anything and is used in a general sense, like in ‘il pleut’ (it’s raining).
‘Ce n’était que’, on the other hand, means “it was only”, and the ce refers specifically to that eight day stay, which was only walks, hunting, fishing, etc…
So no, they are not interchangeable.
Leave a comment