Telling the time in French
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Find a teacherTelling the time is important for appointments, travelling, getting to work and many more things. If you already know the numbers then you already know half of the vocabulary used in this topic.
To begin with, you need to know that the word "time" has three different meanings in French; l'heure, le temps, le nombre de fois. Only l'heure is used in this case. The French "time" is equivalent to "o'clock" in English. In the table bellow you will find the essential vocabulary:
English | French |
---|---|
second | la seconde |
minut | la minute |
hour | l'heure |
quarter of an hour | le quart d'heure |
half an hour | la demi-heure |
noon | le midi |
midnight | minuit |
night | la nuit |
afternoon | l’après-midi |
evening | la soirée |
morning | le matin |
Attention!
Unlike in English "heure" is always required. For example in English you can say "It's almost five" or "She is going there at seven thirty." In French you must say "Il est presque cinq heures." and "Elle y arrivera à sept heures trente." Keep in mind that "heure" is noun and it's singular with "une" and plural with all other numbers.
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You can ask for the time in French "demander l'heure" in a few ways:
Quelle + heure + verbe être + il?
Examples
A quelle heure commence la pièce de théâtre? = At what time does the play begin?
Quand le magasin ouvre-t-il? = When does the store open?
Il est 7 heures vingt. = It's 7:20
Attention!
The only correct phrase for telling the time is "Il est" which is also impersonal, what means that "elle est 4 heures et demie" is incorrect.
In French time is based on the 24-hour clock, and the abbreviations p.m. or a.m are not used. Instead you can use the phrase "du matin" to mean a.m., l'après-midi from noon until 6 p.m., followed by "du soir" until midnight.
To tell a time on the hour in French, use "il est + [number] + heure(s)".
3:00 | il est trois heures |
---|---|
9:00 | il est neuf heures |
6:00 | il est six heures |
For 30 minutes past the hour, it's used "et demie" (and a half) or "trente minutes" (and thirty minutes).
1:30 | il est une heure et demie |
---|---|
8:30 | il est huit heures et demie |
9:30 | il est neuf heures et trente minutes |
For 15 minutes past the hour in French is said "et quart" (and a quarter). If the clock shows the 45th minute you can use the word past = moins + le quart, instead of 45 minutes.
4:45 | il est cinq heures moins le quart |
---|---|
4:15 | il est quatre heures et quinze minutes |
1:45 | il est deux heures moins le quart |
1:15 | il est une heure et quart il est une heure et quinze minutes |
To say 1 to 30 minutes past the hour, simply you say the number of minutes after the hour. The only difference can be for 31 to 59 minutes past the hour, where you can say the next hour "moins" (minus) the number of minutes left. See the examples below!
4:09 | il est quatre heures et neuf minutes |
---|---|
14:20 | il est quatorze heures et vingt minutes |
19:40 | il est vingt heures moins vingts il est dix-neuf heures et quarante minutes |
Now to practice you time-telling skills, we suggest you to try out our exercises!
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I am French living in Lisbon in Portugal. I have lived in different countries such as England, the United States and India. It gave me some experience of learning a foreign language and teaching it.
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Florence is such a joy to work with! A true expert and professional at teaching French, regardless of your level. Florence takes tremendous care in planning your personalized lesson, incredibly thoughtful and patient with her students. She also has such a warm, supportive and encouraging manner with a great sense of humor. She will have you speaking, reading and writing in perfect French much sooner than you think with her approach and highly efficient techniques; methods only a highly experienced instructor can provide. I am lucky to have found her to help me sit for academic French exams and you will feel the same way when working with her. Thank you Florence!!!
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I am currently studying French and I know how beneficial and fun it is to learn with a friendly and patient teacher who teaches you and helps you speak the language with confidence
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I am a serious and reliable person: availability and professionalism are the qualities that best characterize me. I have already had experiences in the field of tutoring and I have also prepared several students to study for the Trinity/Cambridge, DELE and DELF exams.
I am perfectly competent in foreign languages, but I am also able to help students in other subjects (humanistic or not). I have got a Master's degree in Modern Languages and Literatures and my language skills are certified.
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Lessons are mainly aimed at middle school and high school students, but I also provide preparation for university exams.
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*** Please note that I am on holidays in august***
Bonjour ! Comment ça va ?
My name is Lou, and I would be happy to be your french teacher !
French classes are for all levels, beginner to advanced. I can help you prepare to french exams and I also offer conversation classes.
My classes are fun and dynamic ! We will use various documents to work on and always adapt the classes to your needs and interests.
Free 30 min trial lesson !
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COMING SOON : a Whatsapp group for my students to practice french tchating with weekly challenges and conversation subjects !
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Lou works in a very structured way and sent me teaching material before the lesson. After a bit of small talk, we worked on the topic of the lesson, with the lesson divided into reading comprehension, discussion of the text, listening comprehension of a video and a written assignment on the topic. Lou picked an interesting topic that created plenty of opportunity for conversation. She corrected mistakes in a friendly manner and responded very well to my learning requests. That was fun!
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Hi there, thank you for stopping by! My name is Cristina, I'm a CELTA qualified English teacher and I have a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages; I speak English fluently and I can communicate in Italian, Portuguese, French and Spanish. Being a language learner myself and thanks to my educational background I have a deep understanding of language structure and I can easily put myself in my students’ shoes and understand the areas they might struggle with.
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Cristina is a professional and motivated teacher who recently passed her Cambridge Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) and has already gained experience in teaching English. During her classes, she provides slides with exercises gathered from different books and uses a variety of teaching methods such as controlled practices or free speaking exercises. Throughout the whole lesson, she encourages her students to actively speak English.
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Hello,
I am a multilingual teacher with experience in teaching French to German, Japanese, English, Bulgarian and Italian-speaking students, etc. (levels A1 to C1).
I have been teaching French for 8 years in Luxemburg and now in Bulgaria for 4 years, to teenagers, housewives, businessmen, employees, doctors, etc. I can also help you with DELF and DALF preparation. I give lessons via Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams in several countries.
My teaching method for each class : a grammar point together with listening, a lot of speaking with conversation questions or games. While you speak, I write all the new words you need to express yourself, illustrated by pictures or translated in your language.
I do my best to make you feel comfortable to speak and for you to have a pleasant time. According to me, using humour will help you learn more easily.
Whether you need to learn French for business, integration in a French-speaking country or studying, I will be happy to help you. Do not hesitate to contact me for a free trial lesson.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Katia
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I was so pleased with my lesson with Katia. She speaks a clear French that is easy to follow and handles the technology brilliantly. She is a good listener and instantly types up vocabulary words, generating a list so I could reinforce and see what I had learned. I was really impressed. I highly recommend her for learning French.
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Hi! My name is Tiphaine, I'm french, I'm 34 years old and I live in Seville.
I grew up in the outside of Paris, I travelled all over the world and I live in Spain for 8 years now.
I'm a musician, a dancer and I love to cook and hike.
I'm a french teacher, and it's my passion! I speak 3 languages, and thanks to my learning I was able to live amazing experiences in many countries.
That's why I became a teacher, to be able to share with you my love for french language and culture and to guide you in your progress.
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Whatever are your motivations, if you want to learn french in a pleasurable and rewarding way, book a class with me!
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Very social and helpful teacher with an excellent grasp on how to improve your french in the method that suits you. The informal style is very pleasant and will help you acquire the language in a natural, unforced fashion. Recommended for anyone who enjoys a learn by doing approach.
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Hello there. I am Ivan and I teach languages with great success for over 5 years. My teaching technics suit to all kind of interests and goals: personal as well as professional.
I have studied, worked and lived in the French and in the German part of Switzerland, supporting customers from different ages and countries around the world.
Additionally, teaching is my passion which makes me not only a passionated and hard-working teacher but also a flexible, dynamic and compassionate person.
Please contact me for more information and a first meeting free of charge.
Looking forward to meet you soon.
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Ivan is an excellent teacher. He adapts lessons to your needs and wishes and makes learning with him fun and enjoyable by finding material which interests you or that you might find interesting even if you didn’t know it yourself before! I have had 25 lessons with him now and my progress has been much quicker than any method, or course I have taken before. I can’t rate him highly enough! He is very punctual and is very quick to respond if I have any questions. Thank you Ivan!
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Bonjour! Veux-tu apprendre français? ou l'améliorer?
My classes are structured according to my students' needs, I use different teaching methods and I rely on listening each of my students' expectations and goals. Dynamism and constant learning are my purposes in my classes.
I have worked as a French teacher for more than ten years.
I have academic studies in English and French from Montréal, Canada, where I lived for several years. I have a Bachelor in Teaching French as a foreign language from the Université de Bourgogne.
I learned French at an early age in immersion in a French-speaking region and I studied French formally for 11 years, obtaining a native level.
À bientôt!
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Natalia is a great teacher. She uses a variety of teaching methods and always considers my wishes and learning goals. The atmosphere is very pleasant, we speak a lot about random topics but also about situations from my work, which really helps to improve my conversation skills.
Natalia L.
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We work with Janeke on improving her skills using situations from her work environment. Also, we discuss different topics, using a variety of materials. I have seen her French improve very quickly. Congratulations Janeke!
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
Group opening:
Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
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- 2 hours a week
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Don’t know your level? Ask for a free level test.
I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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TISKA is a very prepared, kind and helpful teacher. i love studying with her because she makes the lesson to be intereesant and nice. she understands my needs and gives me the right homework.
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Dear future student,
My name is Mélanie, I am 40 years old, I am Belgian and I live near Brussels in Belgium.
I have 7 years of experience in teaching French as a foreign language. I have a degree in Modern Languages and Literature. I have an agrégation in higher secondary education. French is my mother tongue. Additionally I have a C2 level in Spanish.
I have taught adults (beginner - advanced) in various training institutions (CLL, CVO Semper, ...). I have taught both large and small groups. I can therefore adapt my teaching methods according to the number of people.
As far as my teaching methods are concerned, I create communicative exercises.
I always try to get the student to express themselves as much as possible. In case of groups, I create individual exercises, in groups of two or four.
I give homework in which the students have to write a short text related to a grammatical concept they have seen. I also give additional grammatical exercises.
I also test my students' knowledge. For example, during the course, I listen to my students and comment on their oral productions. I also do small listening comprehensions and reading comprehensions.
I can also explain certain grammatical points or translate certain words into the student's language if it is needed, but generally I always try to teach in the target language.
If my student is looking for a job, I can also help him/her to write his/her CV and cover letter and also prepare his/her interview.
If my student works in a company, I can also prepare exercises specific to the company's field. I have given courses to warehouse workers for Delhaize, to plumbers, to students in Tourism.
I also taught asylum seekers.
As far as teaching material is concerned, I use a lot of material from Zexperts fle https://leszexpertsfle.com/toutes-les-ressources-fle/ which I adapt to the objectives of the lesson. I also look for exercises in FLE manuals such as Totem, Edito, Alter Ego, Expression orale... Naturally, I adapt the exercises according to the needs of the student. I also look for songs in YouTube.
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I have had about 10 lessons in French from Mélanie. We treated a lot of different subjects such as grammar, talking and listening exercises. Mélanie is a very good and patient teacher and I learned a lot in these lessons on how to communicate in French.
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Training is my passion. I like interacting with people. I am passionate about reading, watching movies, and music. I love to explore new places and have keen interest in arts and literature.I love meeting new people because every person is a whole new world you can learn from. I am also a keen reader and an enthusiastic traveller.
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She is kind, she listen to me and try to help me to understand, she use pictures, english words and try to show me the meaning of words . I recommand her. She offers books for free.
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