Words to Know

Telling Time in French

One of the most important and frequent uses of numbers is, of course, to tell time. The French use both the familiar 12-hour clock and the official 24-hour clock to tell time.

Using the 12-hour clock

To express the time in French using the 12-hour system, you begin with il est (eel eh) (it is) and add a number representing the hour and then the word heure(s) (uhr) (time, o’clock). Use the singular heure when it’s 1:00; use the plural heures for all other hours. Here are some examples:

Il est huit heures. (eel eh weet-uhr.) (It’s 8 o’clock.)

Il est neuf heures. (eel eh nuhv-uhr.) (It’s 9 o’clock.)

Il est une heure. (eel eh ewn-uhr.) (It’s 1 o’clock.)

Of course, the time isn’t always exactly on the hour. Therefore, you need a way to indicate time past and before the hour, too. To indicate time past the hour, you can simply follow the phrase il est. . .heure(s) with the number of minutes it is past the hour. To express time before the hour (10 minutes to

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2:00, for example), you add the word moins (mwaN), which means minus. Consider these examples:

Il est huit heures dix. (eel eh weet-uhr dees.) (It’s 8:10 or It’s 10 past 8.)

Il est huit heures moins dix. (eel eh weet-uhr mwaN dees.) (It’s 7:50.

[Literally: It’s 8:00 minus 10.])

Il est dix heures moins vingt-cinq. (eel eh deez-uhr mwaN vahN-saNk.) (It’s 9:35 or It’s 25 to 10:00. [Literally: It’s 10:00 minus 25 minutes.])

Alternatively, you can use these French phrases:

et quart (ey kahr) (quarter after). For example: Il est neuf heures et quart. (eel eh nuh-vuhr ey kahr.) (It’s 9:15 or It’s quarter past nine.)

et demi (e) (ey duh-mee) (half-past). For example: Il est huit heures et demie. (eel eh weet-uhr ey duh-mee.) (It’s half past 8:00.)

moins le quart (mwaN luh kahr) (quarter till). For example: Il est neuf heures moins le quart. (eel eh nuhv-uhr mwaN luh kahr.) (It’s quarter to 9:00.)

To distinguish between a.m. and p.m. in the 12-hour clock, use these phrases after the time:

du matin (dew mah-taN) (in the morning)

de l’après-midi (duh lah-preh-mee-dee) (in the afternoon)

du soir (dew swahr) (in the evening)

midi (mee-dee) (noon)

minuit (mee-nwee) (midnight)

Here are a couple of examples:

Il est 10 heures du matin. (eel eh deez-uhr dew mah-taN.) (It is 10:00 in the morning [a.m.])

Il est 10 heures du soir. (eel eh deez-uhr dew swahr.) (It is 10:00 in the evening [p.m.])

Both midi and minuit are masculine, so when you say half past noon or half past midnight, you don’t add an e to the word demi: Il est midi et demi (eel eh mee-dee ey duh-mee) (It’s half past noon).

In North America, we abbreviate time in the hour:minute format: 12:15 for example, or 3:35. In France, time is abbreviated differently. Instead of using a colon to separate the hour from the minutes, you use a lowercase h. For example, 11:30 becomes 11h30. You abbreviate in the same way whether you’re using the 12-hour system or the 24-hour system. For example, 10h30 means 10:30 a.m. and 22h30 means 10:30 p.m.

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Using the 24-hour routine

In Europe, as well as French-speaking Canada, the use of the 24-hour clock, or military time, is very common. It’s used for all transportation schedules, concert times, store hours, appointment times, and any other scheduled events. When you use the 24-hour clock, you don’t need to distinguish between a.m. or p.m.

If you’re accustomed to the 12-hour system, telling time by the 24-hour clock may be a little confusing. Here’s what you need to know: You count up from 1:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon just as you’re used to, but instead of starting over again at 1, you keep counting up: 13:00, 14:00, and so on until you hit 24:00, which is midnight. So 13:00 is 1:00 p.m., 14:00 is 2:00 p.m. and so on.

To say what time it is in the 24-hour system, simply add the number of minutes to the hour. Here are some examples:

Il est 11h15 [onze heures quinze]. (eel eh ohNz uhr kaNz.) (It’s 11:15 [a.m.].)

Il est 16h10 [seize heures dix]. (eel eh sehz uhr dees.) (It’s 4:10 [p.m.].)

Talkin’ the Talk

Pierre and Claire are running late. (Track 3)

Pierre: Claire, quelle heure est-il? klehr, kehl uhr eh-teel?

Claire, what time is it?

Claire: Il est 10h10 (dix heures dix). eel eh deez-uhr dees.

It’s 10:10 am.

Pierre: Il est 10h10 (dix heures dix)? eel eh deez-uhr dees?

It’s 10:10 am?

Claire: Oui, nous sommes en retard. wee, nooh-sohmz-ahN ruh-tahr.

Yes, we’re late.

Pierre: Oh non! Allons-y! Dépêchons-nous!

oh nohN! ahl-ohN-zee! dey-pehsh-ohN-nooh!

Oh no! Let’s go! Hurry up!

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Words to Know

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Fun & Games

Write the time in 12-hour format and 24-hour format for each of the following clocks.

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