Un 4.5
Telling the Date and Time
Knowing how to tell the date and time is an important daily skill that relies on a good understanding of numbers and some common phrases.
Date – La date
To tell the date in French, the definite singular article ‘le’ is used in front of the number of the day. To describe the current day, it is common to use ‘nous sommes’ or, informally, ‘on est’, although it’s also common to use ‘c’est’. If needed, the day of the week is placed between the definite article ‘le’ and the number. The year goes after the month.
e.g.
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C’est le 2 mars. (‘le deux mars’) |
It’s March 2. |
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Nous sommes le mardi 5 février. (‘le mardi cinq février’) |
It’s Tuesday, February 5. |
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On est le dimanche 9 octobre 2010. (‘le dimanche neuf octobre deux mille dix’) |
It’ s Sunday, October 9, 2010. |
For the first of each month, the ordinal number ‘premier’ is used, similar to English. This is not true, however for any other dates ending in a 1.
e.g.
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C’est le 1er mars. (‘le premier mars’) |
It’s March 1st. |
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C’est le 21 septembre. (‘le vingt-et-un septembre’) |
It’s September 21st. |
To ask for the date, there are several possible approaches. Many of these questions use the interrogative adjective ‘quel’.
e.g.
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Nous sommes quel jour ? / On est quel jour ? / Quelle est la date aujourd’hui ? |
What day is it today? |
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Quelle est la date de son anniversaire ? |
What day is his birthday? |
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Quel jour est ton mariage ? |
What day is your wedding? |
To ask about a date, the question word ‘quand’ can also be used, although other types of answers, such as events or actions, are possible.
e.g.
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–Tu travailles quand ? -Le 3 décembre. / Demain. / Avant le rendez-vous. |
-You work when? -December 3. / Tomorrow. / Before the meeting. |
Time - L’heure
If the clock time is in question, rather than the date, a different type of question needs to be asked, using the interrogative adjective ‘quel’ and the noun ‘heure’.
e.g.
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Il est quelle heure ? |
What time is it? |
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Tu travailles à quelle heure ? |
You work at what time? |
The expression ‘il est’ is used when telling the time. Unlike in English, where the word ‘o’clock’ is largely optional, the word ‘heure’ is obligatory in French. As ‘heure’ is a noun, grammatical number and grammatical gender need to be respected. This applies to the interrogative adjective ‘quel’ and to any numbers used with ‘heure’.
e.g.
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Il est une heure trente. |
It’s one-thirty. |
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Il est trois heures vingt. |
It’s three-twenty. |
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Il est cinq heures. |
It’s five (o’clock). |
It is very common to use the 24-hour clock system, both in written and spoken French. When written alongside digits, the word ‘heure’ is abbreviated to ‘h’. When spoken, ‘heure’ is not abbreviated, and the number corresponding to minutes is just stated.
e.g.
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Il est 19h25. (‘dix-neuf heures vingt-cinq’) |
It’s 7:25pm. |
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Il est 20h. (‘vingt heures’) |
It’s 8pm. |
It is possible, however, to use the 12-hour clock system. If doing so, it is necessary to use expressions to explain what part of the day it is, similar to the am/pm system. The number corresponding to minutes is described in terms of the hour. The words ‘quart’ and ‘demie’ are needed for this. These expressions and words are only used for the 12-hour clock system.
e.g.
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Il est 7h15 du soir. (‘sept heures et quart du soir’) |
It’s 7:15pm. / It’s a quarter after seven in the evening. |
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Il est 7h25 du soir. (‘sept heures vingt-cinq du soir’) |
It’s 7:25pm. |
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Il est 7h30 du soir. (‘sept heures et demie du soir’) |
It’s 7:30pm. / It’s half past seven in the evening. |
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Il est 5h35 du matin. (‘six heures moins vingt-cinq du matin’) |
It’s 5:35am. / It’s twenty-five to six in the morning. |
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Il est 5h45 du matin. (‘six heures moins le quart du matin’) |
It’s 5:45am. / It’s quarter to six in the morning. |
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Il est 2h00 de l’après-midi. (‘deux heures de l’après-midi’) |
It’s 2pm. / It’s two in the afternoon. |
The word ‘pile’ can be used to emphasize that it is exactly on the hour. The words ‘midi’ and ‘minuit’ are used to represent when the clock strikes noon and midnight.
e.g.
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La célébration commence à 21h pile. |
The celebration starts at 9pm sharp. |
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Il est minuit et j’ai sommeil. |
It’s midnight and I’m tired. |
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Nous mangeons à midi. |
We eat at noon. |
Prepositions of Time – Les prépositions de temps
Prepositions are used, typically with a noun phrase, in order to give additional information or meaning to its noun phrase, such as indicating time, space or function. In many languages, prepositions are high-frequency words.
e.g.
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I have been here since the start of the party. |
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The party is before the game. |
Prepositions are common in French, and function in a similar way to those of English. As the term suggests, prepositions are placed in front of their corresponding noun phrase.
e.g.
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Je suis là depuis le début de la fête. |
I have been here since the start of the party. |
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La fête est avant le jeu. |
The party is before the game. |
There are several prepositions that describe different relationships in time in French.
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à |
at |
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après |
after |
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avant |
before |
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depuis |
since |
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durant |
during |
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jusqu’à |
until |
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pendant |
during |
Both ‘durant’ and ‘pendant’ refer to the duration of a period of time, but ‘durant’ is more typical of formal contexts, whereas ‘pendant’ is more typical of informal or everyday contexts.
Contraction with ‘à’ – Les contractions avec ‘à’
Similar to the preposition ‘de’, the preposition ‘à’, and any preposition ending in ‘à’, undergoes contraction when encountering the definite articles ‘le’ and ‘les’.
e.g.
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Vous ne travaillez pas jusqu’au soir. (à + le) |
You don’t work until the evening. |
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Nous étudions jusqu’aux examens. (à + les) |
We’re studying until the exams. |
