How to tell the time in French: A Simple and Practical Guide

Learning how to tell the time in French is one of the most important skills you can acquire, especially if you’re planning to visit France or a French-speaking country soon.

You see, we all have smartphones, a watch, or some kind of device that will let us know what time it is. But what happens when you need to schedule a business meeting, make plans, or book a table at a deliciousbistrot?

We need to communicate specific times and ask questions about the time on a daily basis. Learning how to do this in French will make your day-to-day life so much easier.

The best part is that telling time and asking time-related questions in French is universally understood across the French-speaking world! So, with a little practice and a few vocabulary words, you’ll be able to make arrangements in French with people from France, Québec, Haïti,and more in no time (*wink*)!

Time to get started!On y va !

Why learn how to tell the time in French?

Never misunderstand the time again

French can be a tricky language to learn no matter whether you're an adult or achild whose learning French. That's because some words can sound very similar. Unfortunately, this includes numbers. It might be easy to misunderstand someone if they say sept heures douze (7:12 AM) as it sounds very similar to sept heures deux (7:02 AM).

Learning how to tell time will help you become more keenly aware of these subtle differences in the language. Once you’ve mastered how to tell time, you won’t be late (or early!) to any meeting because you misunderstood the time ever again.

Make appointments more easily

Telling the time is incredibly important if you are a busy business person, a social butterfly, or just someone with places to go and people to see. When you learn how to tell the time, you’ll be able to:

• Schedule a business meeting with your French-speaking colleagues.
• Call your favorite restaurant and ask for a table.
• Ask for a store’s opening hours.
• Make plans with your friends.
• Call a museum and ask what time they open tomorrow.
• And many, many more things!

So, if you are visiting one of the francophone countries soon (or are already there!), you should definitely take the time to learn how to tell the time in French as soon as possible.

Be prepared if your phone dies

We all carry our phones with us wherever we go. In addition to letting us make calls and browse social media, our phone has become our go-to device for finding out what time it is.

However, it’s easy to forget about your phone’s battery when you’re out having a busy day as a tourist in Paris, Montréal, or Genève. What will you do if your phone dies and you need to know the time to make your dinner reservations on-time?

Well, in this situation, it’s totally acceptable to ask a passer-by for the time. Don’t, however, assume that they will speak English and be able to help you. Depending on where you are, they may or may not be able to speak English. Regardless, asking for help in their native language would be more polite and would also ensure that you’ll find someone able to help.

What time is it in French?

We've put together a worksheet to help you practice your time telling skills! Once you've completed the worksheet you can then use your mobile phone to scan the QR code for the correct answers. Good luck!

How to tell the time in French

The first thing you should know about telling the time in French is how to say “hour.” That’s because, when asking for the time in French, you don’t actually ask for the time—you ask for the hour.

So, instead of asking, “what time is it?” you ask, “what hour is it?”

In French, “hour” is heure (its pronunciation may be tricky for English speakers—try euhr).

Next, you should know that heure(s) also replaces “o’clock.” So, all you really need to know to tell the time in French is the word heure and the numbers in French. If you don’t feel too confident about the numbers in French, check out our blog post on the topic to brush up.

Lastly, you should be aware that the 24-hour clock is much more prevalent in most French-speaking countries. Don’t be surprised if you ask for the hour and you’re hit with a dix-neuf heures (nineteen o’clock)!

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty now. We’ll break down the time into different subsections and provide you with tables that include English, French, the IPA spelling, and the pronunciation. All so you can start telling the time like a native right away. Allons!

How to ask what the time is in French

Now that you know the basics, asking for the time in French won’t be too difficult. We’ve created the table below with a few ways to ask what time it is in French, but first beginning with how to say time in French.

English	French	IPA Spelling	Pronunciation
Time	Le temps	lə tɑ̃	Luh tah
Hour	L’heure	lœʁ	Leuhr
What time is it?	Quelle heure est-il ?	kɛl‿ œʁ‿ ɛtil |	Quell euhr eh-teal
Do you have the time?	Avez-vous l’heure ?	avevu lœʁ |	Ah-vay voo leuhr
Do you have the time?	Tu as l’heure ?	ty a lœʁ |	Too ah leuhr
Would you happen to have the time?	Auriez-vous l’heure ?	oʁjevu lœʁ |	Oh-ree-ay voo leuhr
At what time…?	À quelle heure…?	a kɛl‿ œʁ ‖	Ah quell euhr
At what time is it?	C’est à quelle heure?	sɛt‿ a kɛl‿ œʁ ‖	Say ah quell euhr

How to tell the time on the hour

As we mentioned earlier, telling time in a 24-hour format is much more common in France. The table below shows how to tell the time on the hour, for every hour of the day.

English	French	IPA Spelling	Pronunciation
It’s one o’clock (AM)	Il est une heure	il‿ ɛt‿ yn‿ œʁ	Eel eh oon euhr
It’s two o’clock (AM)	Il est deux heures	il‿ ɛ døz‿ œʁ	Eel eh deuce euhr
It’s three o’clock (AM)	Il est trois heures	il‿ ɛ tʁwaz‿ œʁ	Eel eh troo-ahs euhr
It’s four o’clock (AM)	Il est quatre heure	il‿ ɛ katʁ‿ œʁ	Eel eh katruh euhr
It’s five o’clock (AM)	Il est cinq heures	il‿ ɛ sɛ̃k‿ œʁ	Eel eh sahnk euhr
It’s six o ‘clock (AM)	Il est six heures	il‿ ɛ siz‿ œʁ	Eel eh seez euhr
It’s seven o’clock (AM)	Il est sept heures	il‿ ɛ sɛt‿ œʁ	Eel eh set euhr
It’s eight o’clock (AM)	Il est huit heures	il‿ ɛ ɥit‿ œʁ	Eel eh wee euh
It’s nine o’clock (AM)	Il est neuf heures	il‿ ɛ nœv‿ œʁ	Eel eh noff euhr
It’s ten o’clock (AM)	Il est dix heures	il‿ ɛ diz‿ œʁ	Eel eh deez euhr
It’s eleven o’clock (AM)	Il est onze heures	il‿ ɛ ɔ̃z‿ œʁ	Eel eh ohnze euhr
It’s twelve o’clock (PM)	Il est midi	il‿ ɛ midi	Eel eh mee-dee
It’s one o’clock (PM)	Il est treize heures	il‿ ɛ tʁɛz‿ œʁ	Eel eh trayz euhr
It’s two o’clock (PM)	Il est quatorze heures	il‿ ɛ duz‿ œʁ	Eel eh dooz euhr
It’s three o’clock (PM)	Il est quinze heures	il‿ ɛ kɛ̃z‿ œʁ	Eel eh kanz euhr
It’s four o’clock (M)	Il est seize heure	il‿ ɛ sɛz‿ œʁ	Eel eh sayz euhr
It’s five o’clock (PM)	Il est dix-sept heures	il‿ ɛ dissɛt‿ œʁ	Eel eh dee-set euhr
It’s six o ‘clock (PM)	Il est dix-huit heures	il‿ ɛ dizɥit‿ œʁ	Eel eh dee-suite euhr
It’s seven o’clock (PM)	Il est dix-neuf heures	il‿ ɛ diznœf‿ œʁ	Eel eh deez-noff euhr
It’s eight o’clock (PM)	Il est vingt heures	il‿ ɛ vɛ̃ œʁ	Eel eh vahnt eughr
It’s nine o’clock (PM)	Il est vingt et une heures	il‿ ɛ vɛ̃ e yn‿ œʁ	Eel eh vahnt eh oon euhr
It’s ten o’clock (PM)	Il est vingt-deux heures	il‿ ɛ vɛ̃tdø œʁ	Eel eh vahn-deuce euhr
It’s eleven o’clock (PM)	Il est vingt-trois heures	il‿ ɛ vɛ̃ttʁwa œʁ	Eel eh vahn-troo-ahs euhr
It’s twelve o’clock (AM)	Il est minuit	il‿ ɛ minɥi	Eel eh mee-noo-ee

Note that 1:00 AM is the only time when the singular heure is used as opposed to the plural heures. That’s because that’s the only time of day when there’s only one hour. Although we know heure and heures are pronounced the same, this is neat to know so you can write like a true native!

And speaking of writing, you should keep in mind that most people will just use 18h instead of dix-huit heures when writing. This is true for every hour, so don’t be surprised if you see 9h or 17h30 on a flier, advertisement, or text message.

How to say half past, quarter past and quarter to

Usually, we don’t need to be too precise when telling the time. If it’s 3:29 PM, for example, we may say “it’s half past three” insead of “it’s three twenty-nine,” as the former sounds more casual. In French, we can do the same. Check out these helpful words in our table below.

English	French	Pronunciation	Example
It’s half past	Et demie	e dəmi	Il est sept heures et demie, (7:30 AM)
It’s quarter past	Et quart	e kaʁ	Il est dix heures et quart (10:15 AM)
It’s quarter to	Moins le quart	mwɛ̃ lə kaʁ	Il est sept heures moins le quart

One thing to note is that French grammar rules state that you can only use< demie, quart, and moins le quart with the 12-hour clock. If using the 24-hour clock, you cannot use these words past the 12-hour mark. Instead, you must use trente, quince, and quarante-cinq, respectively.

Take this with a grain of salt, as official grammar rules and day-to-day language use don’t always match up. Many French people still use demi and quart when using the 24-hour clock, so you may still hear something like il est dix-neuf heures et demie.

How to say the time of day in French

Sometimes, the time itself is not really relevant to what you need to say. “I have class in the morning” is a completely acceptable way of telling someone what time you go to school, without needing to go into the details of your schedule.

In French, you’ll want to be acquainted with the following times of day.

English	French	IPA Spelling	Pronunciation
Morning	Le matin	lə matɛ̃	Luh mah-tah
Afternoon	L’après midi	lapʁɛ midi	Lah-pray mee-dee
Evening	Le soir	lə swaʁ	Luh swar
Night	La nuit	la nɥi	La noo-ee
Midday/Noon	Le midi	lə midi	Luh mee-dee
Midnight	Le minuit	lə minɥi	Luh mee-noo-ee
Dusk	Le crépuscule	lə kʁepyskyl	Luh cray-poos-kul
Dawn	L’aube	lob	Lobe
Bedtime	L’heure du coucher	lœʁ dy kuʃe	Leuhr doo coo-shay
Naptime	L’heure de la sieste	lœʁ də la sjɛst	Leuhr duh la see-est
Lunchtime	L’heure du déjeuner	lœʁ dy deʒœne	Leuhr doo deh-zho-neh
Dinnertime	L’heure du dîner	lœʁ dy dine	Leuhr doo dee-nay
At around...	Vers…	vɛʁ	Ver

How to tell exact minutes in French

If you need to catch a train or schedule an important appointment, you’ll want to know the exact minutes as well as the hour. To ask for the exact time, you would simply addexactement at the end of how we normally ask for the time: Quelle heure est-il, exactement?

To tell the time with the corresponding minutes, all you have to do is plug in the hour before heure(s) and the minutes immediately after: Il est cinq heures vingt.

It’s a little different from how we say the time in English, but the only thing you need to be careful of is to not forget heure(s). In English, we sometimes leave out “o’clock,” and say things like “It’s ten.” In French, you cannot leave out heure(s). See few examples in the table below:

Time	French	IPA Spelling	Pronunciation
9:05 AM	Il est neuf heures cinq	il‿ ɛ nœv‿ œʁ sɛ̃k	Eel eh noff euhr sahnk
2:30 AM	Il est deux heures trente	il‿ ɛ døz‿ œʁ tʁɑ̃t	Eel eh deuce euhr trahnt
4:12 PM	Il est seize heures et douze minutes	il‿ ɛ sɛz‿ œʁ‿ e duz minyt	Eel eh sayz euhr eh dooz mee-noot
2:20 PM	Il est quatorze heures vingt	il‿ ɛ katɔʁz‿ œʁ vɛ̃	Eel eh kah-torce euhr vah
5:13 AM	Il est cinq heures treize	il‿ ɛ sɛ̃k‿ œʁ tʁɛz	Eel eh sahnk euhr trayz
11:21 AM	Il est onze heures vingt-et-un	il‿ ɛ ɔ̃z‿ œʁ vɛ̃teɛ̃	Eel eh oonz euhr vah-tay-uh
6:25 AM	Il est six heures vingt-cinq	il‿ ɛ siz‿ œʁ vɛ̃tsɛ̃k	Eel eh seez euhr vah-sahnk

Other time-related phrases in French

Beyond just being able to tell the time, you’ll definitely want to expand your French vocabulary with other time-related words and phrases.

From points in time to temporal prepositions, we have compiled a list of some of the most useful time-related vocab below.

English	French	IPA Spelling	Example Sentence
Day	Jour	ʒuʁ	Quel est le jour?
Week	Semaine	səmɛn	La semaine prochaine je rentre à l’école.
Month	Mois	mwa	Aujourd’hui est le premier jour du mois
Year	Année	ane	L'année dernière a été mémorable.
Yesterday	Hier	iɛʁ	J'étais au travail hier.
Today	Aujourd’hui	oʒuʁdɥi	Aujourd'hui c'est vendredi
Tomorrow	Demain	dəmɛ̃	Demain sera samedi
Last year	L'année dernière	lane dɛʁnjɛʁ	Il a obtenu un emploi l'année dernière
This year	Cette année	sɛt‿ ane	Il se marie cette année.
Next year	L'année prochaine	lane pʁɔʃɛn	Notre premier anniversaire est l'année prochaine
Next time	La prochaine fois	la pʁɔʃɛn fwa	Je paierai la prochaine fois.
Last month	Le mois dernier	lə mwa dɛʁnje	Il a voyagé le mois dernier.
This month	Ce mois	sə mwa	Ce mois est froid.
Next month	Le mois prochain	lə mwa pʁɔʃɛ̃	Le mois prochain sera chaud.
Take your time	Prenez votre temps	pʁəne vɔtʁə tɑ̃	Prenez votre temps pour manger votre nourriture
Once upon a time	Il était une fois	il‿ etɛ yn fwa	Il était une fois dans un pays lointain…
A long time	Ça fait longtemps	sa fɛ lɔ̃tɑ̃	Ça fait longtemps qu'on ne s'est pas vu
Sometimes	Quelquefois	kɛlkəfwa	Quelquefois, la nourriture de la cafétéria n'est pas si mauvaise
Occasionally	Parfois	paʁfwa	Je prends parfois le petit déjeuner avec ma grand-mère
From time to time	De temps en temps	də tɑ̃z‿ ɑ̃ tɑ̃	Je vais à la plage de temps en temps
Have a great time	Amuse-toi bien	amyztwa bjɛ̃	Amuse-toi bien à la fête !
The next time we see each other	On se verra	ɔ̃ sə veʁa	Je te donnerai ton cadeau la prochaine fois qu'on se verra
Over time	Avec le temps	avɛk lə tɑ̃	Tout change avec le temps.
Soon	Bientôt	bjɛ̃to	J'y serai bientôt.
Late	En retard	ɑ̃ ʁətaʁ	Il était en retard pour le rendez-vous.
On the dot	Pile	pil	Le vol est parti à 10h pile.
Early	Tôt	to	Je suis arrivé tôt.
Monday	Lundi	lɛ̃di	Le lundi est le premier jour d'école.
Tuesday	Mardi	maʁdi	Tous les mardis, nous avons cours ensemble.
Wednesday	Mercredi	mɛʁkʁədi	Tous les mercredis je dîne avec mon père
Thursday	Jeudi	ʒødi	J'ai un rendez-vous ce jeudi
Friday	Vendredi	vɑ̃dʁədi	Quels sont vos plans ce vendredi ?
Saturday	Samedi	samdi	Tu veux aller au musée samedi ?
Sunday	Dimanche	dimɑ̃ʃ	Le dimanche est un jour de repos
A century	Un siècle	ɛ̃ sjɛkl	Le siècle suivant.
A millennium	Un millénaire	ɛ̃ millenɛʁ	L'année 2000 a marqué la fin d'un autre millénaire.
A second	Une seconde	yn səɡɔ̃d	Ne sois pas une seconde en retard.
A minute	Une minute	yn minyt	Je pars dans une minute
Since	Depuis	dəpɥi	Je n'ai pas mangé depuis 14h.
During	Pendant	pɑ̃dɑ̃	Il a pris la parole pendant la réunion.
On time	À l'heure	a lœʁ	Le train est parti à l'heure.
Right away	Tout de suite	tu də sɥit	Elle part tout de suite.
At that time	À l'époque	a lepɔk	Je ne te connaissais pas à l’époque
Currently	Actuellement	aktɥɛlmɑ̃	Le prix de l'essence fluctue actuellement.
After	Après	apʁ	Elle est partie après le dîner.
Now	Maintenant	mɛ̃tnɑ̃	Je pars maintenant.
Suddenly	Tout à coup	tut‿ a ku	il a commencé à pleuvoir tout à coup
Once	Une fois	yn fwa	Ils viennent une fois par semaine.
Daily	Quotidien	kɔtidjɛ̃	Elle doit boire sa tasse de café quotidienne
Every day	Tous les jours	tu le ʒuʁ	Je travaille tous les jours.
Always	Toujours	tuʒuʁ	Elle est toujours en retard.
Never	Jamais	ʒamɛ	On ne reviendra jamais
Rarely	Rarement	ʁaʁmɑ̃	On le voit rarement ces temps-ci

Time in French FAQ

How do you say decade in French?

In French, a decade is une décennie. La décennie is a feminine noun and can be used in sentences like:

English	French	IPA Spelling	Pronunciation
More than a decade ago	Il y a plus d’une décennie	il‿ j‿ a ply dyn desɛnni	Eel ee-ah ploos dune deh-say-nee
The next decade	La prochaine décennie	la pʁɔʃɛn desɛnni	La proh-shain deh-say-nee
The crisis lasted until the end of the decade.	La crise a duré en fait jusqu'à la fin de la décennie	la kʁiz‿ a dyʁe ɑ̃ fɛ ʒyska la fɛ̃ də la desɛnni	La crees ah doo-ray uh feht zhoos-ka la fah duh la deh-say-nee

How to tell military time in French

Just like a digital clock, military time is always displayed in four digits. The first two digits represent the hour and the last two digits represent the minutes. 0000 is considered midnight and 1200 is noon. Learning how to tell military time in French will take no time and may be very helpful in certain situations.

Here’s a quick table that will help you get the gist of military time:

12-Hour Clock	Military Time
12:00 AM	0000
1:00 AM	0100
4:45 PM	1645
5:20 PM	1720
12:00 PM	1200
8:08 PM	2008

Does French use AM and PM?

The French language does not have an equivalent of AM and PM. While the 24-hour clock is favored in almost all situations, you can use du matin, de l’après midi, and du soir along with the hour to specify the time of day.

Check out the table below for a few examples.

Time	French
8 AM	Il est huit heures du matin
2 PM	Il est deux heures de l’après midi
6 PM	Il est six heures du soir
10 PM	Il est dix heures du soir
3 AM	Il est trois heures du matin

Telling the time in French games

À quelle heure…?

This is a fun game that can be played in groups or a classroom. One person will write out a fictional schedule on a whiteboard or piece of paper. It can include as many things as you’d like, such as “waking up,” “going to the market,” or “meeting with the boss.” You can be as creative as you’d like here and preferably include vocabulary words that the group already knows.

Then, the person who made the schedule will ask the group, “À quelle heure… ?” followed by an action item on the fictional schedule. The first person to say the time correctly wins a point!

Clock Bingo

Everybody loves bingo, right? You can make a fun variation on this game by creating your own score cards with clock faces. You can use a blank worksheet like this one to get started. The regular rules of bingo are still the same, except that students will have to pay close attention to the times being called lest they risk missing out on a point!

Online games

If you’re not in a French group class or simply don’t have anyone to play with at the moment, you can always turn to the internet to find helpful and entertaining games to practice the time.

Four in A Row is a digital game that will test your time-telling skills. You’ll be shown a board with 20 different clocks showing different times. Almost like Connect 4, your goal in the game is to collect four consecutive clocks. To gain a clock, you have to click on it and select the correct time from the answer choices.

Download our free worksheet to help you learn how to tell the time in French.

Time waits for no one, so start practicing your French now!

The most valuable thing we have is time, so why not spend some of it practicing French? With the vocabulary lists, tools, and tricks in this guide, you’ll be able to master how to tell time in French in no time!

And if you think you can already tell the time like a pro, why not check out our guides on the days of the week and months in French? You might discover a thing or two that you didn’t know!

Our time is up for today, but, as always, we have tons of French study resources available for you 24/7 at Berlitz. From classes that let you learn French online to our handy French blog, we have great study options for everybody.

Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions, and keep up the great work!

À bientôt! See you soon!