How to tell the time in French

Posted by Josh on 28th Jan 2025 in the blog in the learning french category

Red clock

Being able to tell the time is an essential life skill, and one of the first things you should master when it comes to learning a foreign language. Follow this guide if you want to learn how to tell the time in French.

First things first, let’s recap our numbers.

English French
One Un
Two Deux
Three Trois
Four Quatre
Five Cinq
Six Six
Seven Sept
Eight Huit
Nine Neuf
Ten Dix
Eleven Onze
Twelve Douze
Thirteen Treize
Fourteen Quatorze
Fifteen Quinze
Sixteen Seize
Seventeen Dix-sept
Eighteen Dix-huit
Nineteen Dix-neuf
Twenty Vingt
Twenty-one Vingt-et-un
Twenty-two Vingt-deux
Twenty-three Vingt-trois
Twenty-four Vingt-quatre

N.b. It’s important to note that, while in English we often use am and pm when talking about the time, French speakers usually go by the 24-hour clock. So whereas an English speaker might go to bed at 10pm, a French speaker falls asleep ‘à vingt-deux heures’.

There are exceptions to this, however. If you want to use the 12-hour clock, you can simply add ‘du matin’ or ‘du soir’, depending on the time of day. For instance, ‘it is three in the afternoon’ could be translated as ‘il est trois heures de l'après-midi’. (‘am’ and ‘pm’, or ‘ante-meridiem’ and ‘post-meridiem’, are Latin for ‘before’ and ‘after midday’ respectively, but these terms are not used in French, so don’t worry about how to translate them.)

Now that we have our numbers, let’s take a look at the terms you’ll need to construct different expressions of time.

English French
Five past six Six heures cinq
Quarter past six Six heures et quart
Half past six Six heures et demie
Twenty-five to six Cinq heures trente-cinq
Quarter to six Six heures moins le quart
Midday Midi
Midnight Minuit
Morning Le matin
Afternoon L'après-midi
Evening Le soir
Day Le jour
Night La nuit

Examples

It is 4:30 am - Il est quatre heures et demie

She wakes up at 5 in the morning - Elle se réveille à 5 heures (du matin)

The next train is at 9:54 - Le prochain train est à neuf heures cinquante-quatre

N.b. For this last example, and for any time in which the minute is not a multiple of five, you would say ‘cinquante-quatre’ rather than ‘moins six’.

Please note, 'demie' and 'quart' are only used for the 12-hour clock. For the 24-hour clock, we always use the number to refer to how many minutes have passed. So 'sept heures moins le quart de soir' would be rendered 'dix-huit heures quarante-cinq'.

You’ll notice that in French we don’t say ‘o’clock’. Instead we just say ‘heure’, meaning ‘hour’. 'Heure' must agree with the number that precedes it, so it will usually take the form 'heures', unless the number is singular, for example 'une heure et quart'.

Another thing English speakers need to watch out for is ‘five/ten/quarter to’. In French, as you’ll see above, we say ‘moins’, meaning ‘less’ or ‘minus’. So ‘quarter to three’ becomes ‘three minus the quarter’.

One final thing to note is that ‘Le quart’ only takes the article when it is quarter to, not when it is quarter past. For example

‘Quarter past five’ = ‘cinq heures et quart’

‘Quarter to six’ = ‘six heures moins le quart’

For more information on how to tell the time, as well as expressions related to ‘faire’, check out Lesson 08 of the Complete French Course or Alexa's YouTube channel.

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