Clock
French clock practice: finish breakfast in time for a train
Read six French clock faces for breakfast finishing times. Choose the right time expression, then compare it with a seven-thirty leaving deadline.
- A1
- 6 times to read
- Pick the French
- Learn this in the A1 notebook →
In short
Read the clock before comparing it with the leaving deadline. Sept heures et demie is 7:30; huit heures moins le quart is 7:45. For this breakfast plan, you must leave by 7:30 to reach the station at 7:45 for an 8:00 train.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Each clock below shows a possible time to finish breakfast. All six are morning times. First choose the French phrase that matches each face. Then use the stated plan: the walk takes fifteen minutes, and you want to reach the station at quarter to eight. Finishing at half past seven leaves the planned walking time.
What time is it? Pick the French that matches.
The minute hand marks thirty minutes, so this is six heures et demie.
6:45 is fifteen minutes before seven: sept heures moins le quart.
The minute hand points to twelve and the hour hand to seven: sept heures.
Fifteen minutes after seven is sept heures et quart.
7:30 is half past seven, written sept heures et demie.
7:45 is a quarter before eight, so use huit heures moins le quart.
Compare breakfast with the planned leaving time
| Step | Time | French |
|---|---|---|
| Leave the breakfast café at the latest | 7:30 | sept heures et demie |
| Reach the station | 7:45 | huit heures moins le quart |
| Train leaves | 8:00 | huit heures |
A breakfast ending at 7:15 finishes before the 7:30 deadline. One ending at 7:30 finishes exactly at the deadline. A 7:45 breakfast finish is later than planned: that is the time you intended to reach the station. Compare the breakfast finish with the leaving time, rather than only comparing it with the train’s departure.
Et quart adds fifteen minutes after the named hour. Moins le quart subtracts fifteen minutes from the next named hour. Keep the hour word with the expression: sept heures et quart is 7:15, while sept heures moins le quart is 6:45. That small word changes which side of seven the clock represents.