Chapitre Deux
Quelle heure est-il?
Exercice 2.35 - 2.37 i
Quelle heure est-il ? Telling Time
In many Francophone countries, the 24-hour clock is used regularly for business, schedules, hours of operation, etc. This is l’heure officielle and will often be posted with an “h” in place of a colon: 22h30 (vingt-deux heures trente). The spoken equivalent or, l’heure conversationnelle in French, is dix heures et demie du soir, ten thirty at night, which is similar to how we would say it in English.
To tell time in French:
- Start with Il est _____ heures (deux, trois, quatre, cinq, etc.) Note: If we are saying “one o’clock, we use the singular: Il est une heure…
- Add in the minutes by including a number
Il est trois heures dix. It’s 3:10am.
Il est vingt heures vingt. It’s 8:20pm. - Count up to the next hour using moins.
Il est dix heures moins cinq. It’s five ‘til ten.
To distinguish for AM or PM in spoken language only, use:
Modèles :
11:00am Il est onze heures du matin.
11:45pm Il est minuit moins le quart.
3:20pm Il est trois heures vingt de l’après-midi.
Bella : Quelle heure est-il ?
Chelsea : Il est seize heures quarante-cinq.
Bella : Il faut que je parte si je veux arriver à l’heure.
Thierry : Salut Mike. Quelle heure est-il ?
Exercice 2.35
When discussing the time of an event, our initial phrase is a little different.
Instead of Il est…, we use à.
Like we saw before, heure is used for the one o’clock hour and heures is used for all other hours. To ask, “What time is (an event)?” use the question: À quelle heure… ?
Modèles :
Exercice 2.36
Exercice 2.37
Audio 2.d
What time is it?
the official hour
twenty-two
hours
thirty
the conversational hour
ten
and
half
in the evening/at night
it's ___ o'clock
two
three
four
five
it's one o'clock
minus
in the morning/of the morning
in the afternoon/of the afternoon
noon
midnight
and a quarter/a quarter past
half past/and a half
a quarter 'til/minus a quarter
on the dot
to arrive on time
to be late
it's 16:45
it's necessary that
I leave (subjunctive mood)
if
I want
it's noon
good/well
I have
hunger
Hi/Bye
it's 1:10 in the afternoon
dang
I am
late
Excuse me
it's nine o'clock
Thank you
at what time
starts
the party
at
eight
is
Masculine singular definite article: the
course/courses
of
French
nine
concert
at the/to the (followed by masculine singular)
park
one o'clock
