Telling the time in French

WorldPractice
WorldPractice
Level A1

Telling the time in French

This lesson teaches you to ask the time in French, give it, and say when something happens. The big difference from English is that French keeps heures, "hours", in every time except noon and midnight: three o'clock is il est trois heures, and ten past six is il est six heures dix. You'll also hear the 24-hour clock a lot in France, not just on timetables. Ask a stranger with vous (Vous avez l'heure ?) and a friend with tu, as in the two conversations at the end.

Hour, minute, quarter, noon and midnight

Morning, afternoon, evening and night

Asking the time: Quelle heure est-il ? and Il est quelle heure ?

… quelle heure … ?

Telling the time: Il est trois heures

Il est … heures ….

Clock times, the everyday way and on the 24-hour clock

TimeEveryday24-hour clock
13:00une heuretreize heures
15:00trois heuresquinze heures
15:05trois heures cinqquinze heures cinq
15:15trois heures et quartquinze heures quinze
15:30trois heures et demiequinze heures trente
15:45quatre heures moins le quartquinze heures quarante-cinq
15:50quatre heures moins dixquinze heures cinquante
12:00mididouze heures
0:00minuitzéro heure

Past and to: et quart, et demie, moins le quart

French has no word for "past": you just put the minutes after heures, so ten past six is six heures dix. A quarter past is et quart and half past is et demie, as in sept heures et demie.

For "to", French takes the next hour and subtracts with moins, "minus": twenty to five is cinq heures moins vingt, and a quarter to nine is neuf heures moins le quart. Watch out for the le in moins le quart, which isn't there in et quart.

In the morning, in the evening: du matin, de l'après-midi, du soir

To say which part of the day a time is in, add du matin, de l'après-midi or du soir after it: sept heures du matin, deux heures de l'après-midi, huit heures du soir. French doesn't use a.m. and p.m.

Where English says "eleven at night", French usually says du soir until midnight: Il est onze heures du soir, va te coucher ! Without a clock time, le matin and la nuit mean "in the morning" and "at night" in general, as in Je n'arrive pas à dormir la nuit. For today, say ce matin, cet après-midi, ce soir: Tu es libre ce soir ?

Timetables and the 24-hour clock: dix-neuf heures trente

Train times, shop hours, TV listings and appointments in France use the 24-hour clock, and people often say it out loud too. You just read the numbers: Le train part à dix-neuf heures trente, at 19:30, never "sept heures et demie du soir" on a ticket.

On the 24-hour clock you don't use et quart, et demie or moins: 15:45 is quinze heures quarante-cinq. Noon and midnight have their own words, midi and minuit, with no heures after them: On déjeune à midi, La fête se termine à minuit.

How long: dans dix minutes, and no word for "for" in J'ai attendu deux heures

… minutes / heures

Asking a stranger in the street: Vous avez l'heure, s'il vous plaît ?

Two friends late for the cinema: Le film commence à quelle heure ?

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