Learn French 🇫🇷

Time ⏰

One of the most crucial things that you can learn to do in a new language is how to tell time. After all, it's useful for everything from setting meetings to planning a date. This lesson teaches you how to tell the time in French.
The Need to Tell Time
So, you've just met a charming French person who you can't wait to see again. They smile, you smile, and you agree to meet again the next day for dinner. Ah, romance in Paris.

However, meeting someone in the future is next to impossible without being able to tell time. While some languages may lack the concept of hours and minutes, French is decidedly not one of those. In this lesson, we're going to make sure you can make that dinner date with that charming person by making sure that you're comfortable telling time in French. Before we go any further, I do assume that you can count to 30 or so in French. If not, you may want to review that before moving on.

Telling the time in French is essential.
French Clock
Asking the Time
Since you don't want to keep your dinner companion late, you obviously have a vested interest in knowing the time. So, it's useful to be able to ask someone what time it is.

To do so in French, simply ask Quelle heure est-il? (pronounced: kel ore eh-til). When you get a response, you'll hear Il est (pronounced eel eh) and then the time.

Times of the Day
Now, in English we often leave off the time. For example, if we tell someone that it's 7 am, we'll say 7 am or even 7 o'clock. It's not so in French.

If you're telling someone it is 7 am, you would say Il est sept heures. Heures_ (pronounced: ore) literally means 'hours,' but it's just a semantic difference between French and English. You use this anytime except for midi (pronounced: meh-dee) and minuit (pronounced: mehn-we), which mean 'noon' and 'midnight', respectively.

Another big difference is that many French people use a 24-hour clock rather than a 12-hour clock. This can take some getting used to. As an example, if it were 1 pm, people could say either Il est treize heures, meaning 'It is 13 hours,' or Il est une heure de l'après-midi (pronounced: lap-re meh-dee), meaning 'It is one in the afternoon.' In case you were curious, the word for morning is du matin (pronounced: dew ma-than), which just means 'in the morning.' All of this is quite important to remember when scheduling a lunch date with a friendly previous dinner companion!

In casual conversation where it's pretty obvious whether you're talking about day or night (for instance, when you're talking about going for dinner at eight'o'clock) it's more common to use the 12-hour clock.

In writing, you'll never see times written as 5pm or 3am. It will always be written 17h30 (5:30pm) or 22h (10pm).

To say the time, use il est followed by a number and then heure(s)

It's three'o'clock =Il est trois heures

It's one'o'clock = Il est une heure

To say something like ten to eleven or quarter to five you should use moins (minus/less)

It's ten to eleven
Il est onze heures moins dix
(literally: It is eleven hours minus ten)

It's a quarter to five
Il est cinq heures moins le quart
(literally: It is five hours minus quarter)

To say something like it's ten PAST eleven simply put the number of minutes after the hour.

It's ten past eleven
Il est onze heures dix =Add an et when saying quarter past or half past

Quarter past one =Une heure et quart
Half past nine =Neuf heures et demie

More Time vocabulary
Midnight= Minuit
Midday/noon =Midi
Ten'o'clock at night =Dix heures du soir
Ten'o'clock in the morning =Dix heures du matin
Ten'o'clock, on the dot! =Dix heures, pile!

Xx 🥰 have a good lesson