Telling Time in French - L'Heure
Telling time in French is just a matter of knowing the numbers and a few formulas.
| What time is it? | ||
|---|---|---|
| It's one o'clock | Il est une heure | 1h00 |
| It's two o'clock | Il est deux heures | 2h00 |
| It's 3:30 | Il est trois heures et demie Il est trois heures trente | 3h30 |
| It's 4:15 | Il est quatre heures et quart Il est quatre heures quinze | 4h15 |
| It's 4:45 | Il est cinq heures moins le quart Il est cinq heures moins quinze Il est quatre heures quarante-cinq | 4h45 |
| It's 5:10 | Il est cinq heures dix | 5h10 |
| It's 6:50 | Il est sept heures moins dix Il est six heures cinquante | 6h50 |
| It's 7am | Il est sept heures du matin | 7h00 |
| It's 3pm | Il est trois heures de l'après-midi Il est quinze heures | 15h00 |
| It's 6pm | Il est six heures du soir Il est dix-huit heures | 18h00 |
| It's noon | Il est midi | 12h00 |
| It's midnight | Il est minuit | 0h00 |
Notes
The French don't have words for "a.m." and "p.m." You can use "du matin" for a.m., "de l'après-midi" from noon until 6p.m., and "du soir" from 6p.m. until midnight, but time is usually expressed on a 24-hour clock. Thus 3pm would be translated as quinze heures or 15h00.
In French, you have to say "heure" (except with midi and minuit), even though in English "o'clock" is often left out. In addition, the French hour and minute are separate by h (for heure) where in English we use :
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Practice! Telling Time in French Related Lessons |
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