Telling the time in French

Telling time in French is an essential skill to master, especially if you plan on scheduling appointments or making plans with French speakers. Before diving into the specifics of telling time, it is a good idea to review your French numbers, as they form the basis for expressing time.

To ask for the time, you can say 

• Quelle heure est-il?  – What time is it?
• À quelle heure? – At what time?

When telling time in French, you first state the hour, followed by the minutes. The general structure is:

Il est [the hour number] heure(s) [the number of minutes].

To say “o’clock” in French, we say heure(s). For une(one) it is singular and the rest it is plural (heures).

Il est huit heures – It’s eight o’clock

It’s important to note that “heure” (hour) is a feminine noun, so “it’s one o’clock” is “il est une heure” and not “un heure”.

Expressing AM and PM in French

When it comes to AM and PM in French, we use the terms “du matin” (in the morning) for AM and “de l’après-midi” (in the afternoon) or “du soir” (in the evening) for PM. However, the 24-hour clock is more commonly used in France, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with that system as well.

In  the 24-hour clock, numbers range from one to twenty-three, making “AM” and “PM” unnecessary. “Two pm” would simply be “il est quatorze heures” – It’s fourteen hours.

Expressing “Past” and “To” in French

In French, you don’t typically use “past” or “to” when telling time. Instead, simply state the number of minutes after the hour. 

It’s ten past two/It is two ten – Il est deux heures dix.

To express an equivalent to “to”, you can use “moins” (minus). This is used for ties that are past the half hour on the clock.

It’s five to three/It is two fifty five -Il est trois heures moins cinq/ Il est deux heures cinquante-cinq.

Quatre, Half and Three-Quarters

These are some standard times that can also be expressed using the key words.

English Expression	French Expression
Quarter past	et quart
Quarter to	moins le quart
Half past	et demie
12 PM (midday or noon)	midi
12 AM (midnight)	minuit

3:15 AM – Il est trois heures et quart du matin.

7:30 PM / 19:30 h – Il est sept heures et demie du soir. /Il est dix-neuf heures et demi.

4:45 AM – Il est cinq heures moins le quart du matin.

12 PM – Il est midi

12 AM – Il est minuit

Notice that for “moins quart” we do not use the “et’.

Exercise:

Write the time in French in a complete sentence.

Ex. 2:15 – Il est deux heures quart.

1:00 – ________________________________.

9:40 –  ________________________________.

6:45 –  ________________________________.

5:20 –  ________________________________.

3:55 –  ________________________________.

8:30 –  ________________________________.

21:40 –  ________________________________.

23:20 –  ________________________________.

20:10 –  ________________________________.

15:05 –  ________________________________.

12:00 –  ________________________________.

19:25 –  ________________________________.

7:30 –  ________________________________.

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Le quart d’heure de Politesse

When you earn a language it is also essential to know a little about the culture of the country which will help learners better integrate into society and avoid potential faux pas(social blunders).

“Le quart d’heure de politesse” is a well-known expression in French culture that literally translates to “the polite quarter-hour.” It refers to the acceptable amount of time one can be late to a social engagement without being considered impolite.

In France, while punctuality is generally expected in professional settings, a bit of flexibility is allowed in social situations. Arriving exactly on time to a dinner party or casual gathering might even be seen as too formal or eager. The “quart d’heure de politesse” allows guests a 15-minute grace period to account for unforeseen circumstances like traffic or difficulty finding parking.