{"id":118342,"date":"2023-04-20T10:15:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T14:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/how-to-tell-time-in-french\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T06:13:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T11:13:28","slug":"how-to-tell-time-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/how-to-tell-time-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"A Beginner’s Guide to Telling Time in French"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telling time in French is an essential skill for anyone traveling to France or simply learning the language. French uses both the 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, and while the basics are straightforward, there are a few unique details to learn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let me break down the vocabulary, phrases and formats you need to confidently tell time in French.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Words for Telling Time in French\u00a0<\/h2>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

There’s a very simple formula for telling time in French:<\/p>\n

Il est ___ heure(s)___.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You plug in the hour before heure(s)\u00a0<\/em>and the minutes after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Il est trois heures vingt.<\/em> (It’s 3:20 in the morning.)<\/p>\n

In English, we sometimes leave out “o’clock,” and say things like “It’s ten.” In French, you can’t leave out the heures.<\/i><\/p>\n

If you want to say one o’clock since there’s only “one” hour, you use the singular heure<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0instead of\u00a0heures, <\/em>e.g.:<\/p>\n

Il est une heure. (<\/em>It’s one o’clock)<\/p>\n

This is the only time of day you do this with, and if it’s one in the afternoon, remember that you can use the 24-hour clock and say:<\/p>\n

Il est treize heures. (<\/em>It’s one o’clock.)<\/p>\n

When telling time in French you can use both the 12-hour clock and the 24-hour clock.<\/p>\n

If you choose the 24-hour clock then you simply say:<\/p>\n

Il est quatorze heures.<\/em> (It is two in the afternoon.)<\/p>\n

But if you’re using the 12-hour clock, there are some instances where you’ll want to make it clear whether you’re talking about morning or night.<\/p>\n

Telling Time in French for Morning and Night\u00a0<\/h3>\n

In English, we have our nifty little tags “a.m.” and “p.m.” In French, we use one of the following:<\/p>\n

du matin<\/strong><\/em> (in the morning)<\/p>\n

de l’apr\u00e8s-midi<\/strong><\/em> (in the afternoon)<\/p>\n

du soir<\/em> (at night)<\/p>\n

This leaves us with 2:00 p.m. translating to either:<\/p>\n

Il est quatorze heures. <\/em>(It is two in the afternoon.)<\/p>\n

or<\/p>\n

Il est deux heures de l’apr\u00e8s-midi.<\/em> (It is two in the afternoon.)<\/p>\n

Time for Noon and Midnight\u00a0<\/h3>\n

French vocabulary for moon and midnight:<\/p>\n

Midi<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is for noon, and\u00a0minuit<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is for midnight.<\/p>\n

You can use them without tagging heures,\u00a0<\/i>like so:<\/p>\n

Il est minuit.<\/em> (It’s midnight)<\/p>\n

Il est midi.<\/em> (It’s noon.)<\/p>\n

How to Ask for the Time in French<\/h3>\n

The main phrase you need to know is:<\/p>\n

Quelle heure est-il ?<\/strong><\/em> (What time is it?)<\/p>\n

If you need to ask when a specific event is happening, like a movie or a meeting with friends, you can ask:<\/p>\n

C’est \u00e0 quelle heure ?<\/strong><\/em> (What time is it at?)<\/p>\n

You can also sub “C’est”\u00a0<\/em>for the event you’re asking about, such as a movie in the following example:<\/p>\n

Le film est \u00e0 quelle heure ?<\/em> (What time is the movie?)<\/p>\n

Fancy Add-ons<\/h3>\n

I can’t let you go away without showing you the bells and whistles, or should I say hands and cogs?<\/p>\n

Anyway, here’s a short list of some fancy add-ons to sprinkle into your time-telling vocabulary when appropriate.<\/p>\n

vers <\/em>(around)<\/p>\n

Vers deux heures. <\/em>(Around two o’clock.)<\/p>\n

pile !<\/strong><\/em> (on the dot!)<\/p>\n

Il est seize heures, pile ! (It’s 4:00 p.m. on the dot!)<\/p>\n

If you want to be very general when telling the time, you can always use:<\/p>\n

Il est t\u00f4t.<\/strong> <\/em>(It’s early.)<\/p>\n

Il est tard.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(It’s late.)<\/p>\n

Examples of Time in French\u00a0<\/h3>\n

We’ve already briefly gone over how to include the minutes when telling time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two main things we talked about were numbers one through sixty and that the minutes go after the word heure(s)<\/em>. But you know how we sometimes say things like “a quarter till” or “half past ten”? Well, French has that too.<\/p>\n

Let’s translate a few times as examples:<\/p>\n

1oh45 \u2014<\/strong>Il est onze heures moins le quart.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A little subtraction is involved here, nothing you can’t handle I’m sure. Just remember that\u00a0moins<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>means minus, and that\u00a0quart<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is a quarter (equivalent to fifteen minutes).<\/p>\n

11h15 \u2014<\/strong> Il est onze heures et quart.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Simply add a quarter to the end, and you’re in business!<\/p>\n

You can apply the same concept if you want to say something along the lines of “ten till nine” or “five till seven.” Just plug in\u00a0dix\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0cinq\u00a0<\/em>after\u00a0moins,\u00a0<\/em>like this:<\/p>\n

Il est cinq heures moins dix. <\/em>(It is 4:50).<\/p>\n

Indicating that it’s “half-past” is more cut and dry. All you add after\u00a0heures\u00a0<\/em>is “et demie<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

So if it’s 9:30, you could say,<\/p>\n

“Il est neuf heures trente<\/strong>,” <\/em>or “Il est neuf heures et demie<\/strong>.”<\/em> <\/p>\n

The Golden Rule<\/h3>\n

With all these options, there comes\u00a0one simple rule:<\/p>\n

If you are using the 24-hour clock, and it’s after noon, you shouldn’t use phrases like moins le quart , et demie\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0et quart <\/em><\/em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

These are fine for the 12-hour clock, but they aren’t commonly used with the 24-hour clock.<\/p>\n

Instead, just say the actual number of minutes after you’ve said the hour (i.e. :15 \u2014 quinze <\/em>, :30 \u2014 trente<\/em> , :45 \u2014 quarante-cinq<\/em> , <\/em>etc.)<\/p>\n

Fun fact:\u00a0<\/strong>So you know how we call it a minute hand and an hour hand? In French, apparently the hands of a clock are needles, or aiguilles<\/em> .\u00a0<\/em>For the minute hand, it’s la<\/i>\u00a0grande aiguille <\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>The hour hand is la petite aiguille<\/em> .\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

French Numbers<\/h2>\n

I hate to break it to you, but you can’t tell time without knowing your numbers<\/a>. The good news is that for our purposes, we won’t go past fifty-nine.<\/p>\n

Thus, you avoid some of the trickier numbers to remember (at least for now!).<\/p>\n

Let’s count on, shall we?<\/p>\n

1. un<\/em>\u00a0
\n2. deux<\/em>
\n<\/em>3.\u00a0trois <\/em>
\n<\/em>4. quatre<\/em>
\n<\/i>5. cinq<\/em>
\n<\/em>6. six\u00a0<\/i>
\n7. sept <\/em>
\n8. huit
\n<\/em>9. neuf<\/em>
\n<\/em>10. dix
\n<\/em>11. onze
\n<\/em>12. douze
\n<\/em>13. treize
\n<\/em>14. quatorze
\n<\/em>15. quinze
\n<\/em>16. seize
\n<\/em>17. dix-sept
\n<\/em>18. dix-huit
\n<\/em>19. dix-neuf
\n<\/em>20. vingt <\/em><\/p>\n

After\u00a0vingt,\u00a0<\/em>you simply add the second digit to\u00a0vingt.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s one notable exception of twenty-one, which is vingt\u00a0et\u00a0<\/strong>un<\/em> .\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

You’ll end up with vingt-deux<\/em> , vingt-trois ,<\/em> etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The same method works for thirty, forty and fifty.<\/p>\n

Just don’t forget that it’s trente et un<\/em> ,\u00a0<\/em>and not trente-un<\/em> .\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The former just rolls off the tongue better, keeping up French’s reputation for being a beautiful and flowing language.<\/p>\n

30. trente<\/em>
\n<\/em>40. quarante<\/em>
\n<\/em>50. cinquante
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Et voil\u00e0,\u00a0<\/em>you can now count to fifty-nine, and at the very least, yell the numbers you see on the clock.<\/p>\n

To get your pronunciation on lock, check out this video<\/a> and practice along!<\/p>\n

The 24 Hour Clock in France<\/h3>\n

If you travel to France, the biggest issue you’ll have is getting into the mindset of the 24-hour clock.<\/p>\n

You may know it as military time,\u00a0but over there, it’s just time.<\/em> While the French do use the 12-hour clock, you’ll see the 24-hour clock used on digital clocks in France (as well as in the rest of Europe). The 24-hour clock and the 12-hour clock are used interchangeably.<\/p>\n

I know that you’re groaning over there, but it’s not all that bad. It just takes a little getting used to. It’s easy to change most cell phones and computer clocks to 24 hours (with the added benefit that your phone’s alarm clock will never again accidentally be set to p.m. instead of a.m.) After a few weeks of looking at the 24-hour clock on your phone and converting it to a time you understand, it’ll become second nature.<\/p>\n

To convert, just subtract 12 starting at one o’clock p.m. So if it’s 21:52 on your phone, then do some quick math (21 – 12) to get 9. Thus, 9:52 p.m.\u00a0I\u00a0promise\u00a0<\/em>it’s not that bad.<\/p>\n

In fact, here’s a slick shortcut to make the transition even easier: When your hour is in the teens, all you really need to do\u00a0is subtract two from the ones digit (i.e. 13h00 = 3 – 2 = 1, one o’clock; 19h00 = 9 – 2 = 7, seven o’clock; etc.).<\/p>\n

Practicing Your French Time-telling Skills<\/h2>\n

Here are a few tips to get you started on talking about time.<\/p>\n