How To Ask The Time In French? Learn How To Tell And Write Time

Learning to tell the time in a new language is imperative! When you don’t know how to do it, you can easily get confused and arrive too early or too late to your appointments, or even worse, to your dates, like the character in the song previously mentioned. If you want to master how to tell the time in French, keep on reading. Here you will find:

some rules to tell the time in French
how to tell the time
how to ask the time
How to write the time
Some dialogues to exemplify all of the above

We can assure you: you will never arrive late again if you get to the end of this article! Remember: an early bird catches the worm! So, let ‘s hurry up!

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Some Rules To Tell The Time In French

First of all, take into account that the words “heure” or “heures” must always be included when you tell the time in French. See the difference between English and French:

It’s almost one.	Il est presque une heure.
The teacher will be here at five thirty.	Le professeur arrive à cinq heures trente.

As you can notice, the word “hour” is a noun, so you can use it in singular form and also in plural form.

In French, usually time is based on the 24-hour clock. For example, 1 pm is 13h00.

The phrase to say the time is: “Il est…” For example: Il est minuit.

Use the phrases:

du matin to mean a.m.
de l’après-midi from noon until 6 p.m.
du soir until midnight

In English a colon is used to separate the hours from the minutes: 11:30 am. In French, the abbreviation “h” is used instead of the colon: 11h30, 14h20, 2h00, 19h30.

Essential Words To Tell The Time In French

an hour	une heure
a minute	une minute
a second	une seconde
half an hour	une demi-heure
a quarter of an hour	un quart d'heure
an hour and a half	une heure et demie
a time zone	un fuseau horaire
the time difference	le décalage horaire
at 7 a.m. local time	à 7 heures, heure locales
the morning	le matin
at noon	à midi
the afternoon	l’après-midi
the evening	le soir
at night	la nuit
at midnight	à minuit
at dawn	à l’aube
at sunrise	au lever du soleil
at dusk	au crépuscule
at sunset	au coucher du soleil
a clock	une horloge
an alarm clock	un réveil
a watch	une montre

How Do We Ask For The Time In French?

In order to ask for the time in French, you can use the following questions:

Asking For The Time In French – Demander l’heure en français

What time is it?	Quelle heure est-il?
Have you got the time?	Avez-vous l’heure?
What time do you make it?	Vous avez quelle heure?
What time did you leave?	À quelle heure êtes-vous parti?

How Do We Write The Time In French?

It 's six o’clock	Il est six heures
at ten o’clock	à dix heures
at twenty past five	à cinq heures vingt
it’s five past eight	il est huit heure cinq
it’s half past nine	il est neuf heures et demie
it’s a quarter to seven	il est sept heures moins le quart
at 4.25 a.m.	à 4h25 (du matin)
at 7 o’ clock in the morning	à 7h00 du matin
at 6:30 p.m.	à 18h30
at 10:00 p.m	à 22h
it’s about three	il est environ trois heures
it’s almost midnight	il est presque minuit
towards eight o’clock	vers huit heures
it’s just after two	il est un peu plus de deux heures
at ten o’clock sharp	à dix heures pile

Some Examples

Telling The Time – Dire l’heure

A: Sorry, what time is it? B: I’m sorry, I don’t have a watch, so I can’t tell you the time.	A: Pardon, il est quelle heure ? B: Désolé, je n’ai pas de montre et je ne peux pas vous dire l’heure.
A: When do you need to be at the airport tomorrow? B: at midday.	A: À quelle heure dois-tu être à l'aéroport demain ? B: à midi.
A: What time do you have to meet your brother? B: At a quarter to three.	A: À quelle heure dois-tu voir ton frère? B: à trois heures moins le quart.
A: What time does the match start? B: at 2:30 p.m.	A: À quelle heure commence le match? B: à deux heures et demie. / à quatorze heures trente.

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