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Telling the time and daily routines

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What鈥檚 the time?鈥

Telling the time: o鈥檆lock, quarter past, half past and quarter to

When it鈥檚 quarter past, half past and quarter to, use the following expressions:

FrenchEnglish
et quartquarter past
et demiehalf past
moins le quartquarter to

Here are some more time examples:

A clock displaying 3 o'clock
Il est trois heures
A clock displaying 3:05
Il est trois heures cinq
A clock displaying 3:30
Il est trois heures et demie
A clock displaying 3:35
Il est quatre heures moins vingt-cinq
A clock displaying 12 o'clock and a sun
Il est midi
A clock displaying midnight and a moon
Il est minuit

The 24-hour clock

The 24-hour clock is used a lot in French:

  • Il est quatorze heures - it's 14:00 (2:00pm).
  • Il est dix-huit heures - it's 18:00 (6:00pm).
  • Il est vingt heures - it's 20:00 (8:00pm).

With the 24-hour clock, you usually say quinze 鈥庘赌(15), trente (30) and quarante-cinq (45) instead of et quart (quarter past), et demie (half 鈥巔ast) and moins le quart (quarter to):鈥

  • Il est quatorze heures quinze - it鈥檚 14:15 (2:15 pm)鈥.
  • Il est dix-huit heures trente - it鈥檚 18:30 (6:30 pm)鈥.
  • Il est vingt heures quarante-cinq - it鈥檚 20:45 (8:45 pm)鈥.

Numbers

Use the vocabulary link below to remind yourself of the numbers you will need to tell the time:

Numbers used to tell the time - vocabulary list

Saying what time something happens

To say what time something happens, you need to use 脿 (at), and use de 鈥 脿 to say 鈥榝rom 鈥庘庘 until鈥:鈥

  • Je prends le petit d茅jeuner 脿 sept heures et quart - I eat breakfast at 7:15.鈥
  • La pause d茅jeuner est 脿 douze heures et demie - Lunch break is at 12:30.鈥
  • Mon beau-p猫re d卯ne de dix-huit heures 脿 dix-neuf heures - My stepfather eats 鈥巇inner from 18:00-19:00.鈥

Talking about your daily routine

To say what time you do certain things during the day, you can use daily routine phrases 鈥巜ith the time: 鈥

  • Je me r茅veille 脿 sept heures moins le quart - I wake up at 6:45.
  • Je me l猫ve 脿 sept heures et je prends mon petit d茅jeuner 脿 sept heures et quart - I 鈥巊et up at 7:00 and I have breakfast at 7:15.
  • Je vais au coll猫ge 脿 huit heures et demie et la r茅cr茅 est 脿 onze heures dix - I go to 鈥巗chool at 8:30 and break is at 11:10.
  • Je joue au foot avec mes copains 脿 treize heures quarante - I play football with my 鈥巉riends at 13:40.鈥
  • Je regarde un film 脿 vingt et une heures - I watch a movie at 21:00 (9pm).

For more phrases on daily routine, click on downloadable vocabulary list below:

Daily routine phrases

Quiz

Watch the video and find out how much you know about telling the time in French in this short quiz.

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