Clock
Read the clock in French: et quart, et demie, moins le quart
Eight clock faces to read in French. Practise il est trois heures et quart, et demie, moins le quart and moins dix, the way people actually say the time.
- A1
- 8 times to read
- Pick the French
- Learn this in the A1 notebook →
In short
Say il est + hour + heure(s), then the minutes: et quart (quarter past), et demie (half past), moins le quart (quarter to), moins dix (ten to). After the half hour, count down from the next hour: 3:50 is quatre heures moins dix.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learnRed watch out
What time is it? Pick the French that matches.
Et quart = quarter past. Moins le quart would be 2:45.
Et demie, with et. After heure (feminine), write demie with an e.
Both work. In conversation, onze heures moins le quart is more natural; the digital style is common too.
Une heure, feminine and singular. From two: deux heures.
Both are fine. Counting down (cinq heures moins dix) is the classic spoken form.
No et before plain minutes: neuf heures vingt. Et only goes with quart and demie.
After the half hour, count down from the next hour: 6:40 = sept heures moins vingt.
At 11:55 in the morning, the next hour is midi: midi moins cinq.
How do you tell the time in French?
Two systems live side by side. In conversation, people use the 12-hour clock with et quart / et demie / moins le quart. For timetables and appointments, they use the 24-hour clock with plain minutes: quinze heures trente. Never mix them: quinze heures et demie is heard, but quinze heures moins le quart is odd.
| Clock | French |
|---|---|
| x:15 | et quart |
| x:30 | et demie |
| x:45 | (x+1) moins le quart |
| x:50 | (x+1) moins dix |
- Il est trois heures et quinze.Il est trois heures quinze / et quart.
Et only with quart and demie.
- Il est un heure.Il est une heure.
Heure is feminine.