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Telling The Time in French

The document discusses how to tell time in French. The French make greater use of the 24-hour clock, especially in formal situations. In casual conversation, the 12-hour clock is more common. Times are always written with the 24-hour clock, such as 17h30 for 5:30pm. To say the time in French, use "il est" followed by the number of hours and "heures". To say times like "ten to eleven", use "moins" to say "minus". For times past the hour, simply say the number of minutes after.

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Yamile Ibarra Ceniceros
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351 views

Telling The Time in French

The document discusses how to tell time in French. The French make greater use of the 24-hour clock, especially in formal situations. In casual conversation, the 12-hour clock is more common. Times are always written with the 24-hour clock, such as 17h30 for 5:30pm. To say the time in French, use "il est" followed by the number of hours and "heures". To say times like "ten to eleven", use "moins" to say "minus". For times past the hour, simply say the number of minutes after.

Uploaded by

Yamile Ibarra Ceniceros
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Telling the time in French

One important thing to note when talking about the time is that the French
make greater use of the 24 hour clock than we typically do. You'll frequently
encounter it in more formal situations (for instance, when making
appointments) and also when clarifying whether a time is in the morning or
in the evening.

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!

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