Time and Dates in French

In Brief

To tell the time, French uses Il est + number + heure(s): Il est trois heures (“It is three o’clock”). Dates normally use le + cardinal number + month, as in le 15 août; only the first of a month uses premier: le premier mai. A day without an article usually means one particular day (lundi, “on Monday”), while le + day usually means every such day (le lundi, “on Mondays”).

Overview

Talking about clocks and calendars is an essential A1 skill. It lets you arrange a meeting, understand opening hours, discuss a weekly routine, and say when a birthday or holiday falls. The basic French patterns are regular, but they do not always match English word for word: French says Il est trois heures—literally “It is three hours”—and normally puts the day before the month in a date.

This topic builds directly on cardinal numbers. You need numbers for hours, minutes, dates, and years. You will also learn a few fixed forms, especially midi (“noon”), minuit (“midnight”), et quart (“quarter past”), and moins le quart (“quarter to”).

The beginner rule is simple: learn one reliable pattern for time, one for dates, and the names of the days and months. Later sections explain useful alternatives such as the 24-hour clock, abbreviated dates, and the small difference between lundi and le lundi.

How It Works

Asking and telling the time

The standard question is:

• Quelle heure est-il ? — What time is it?

The answer uses the impersonal expression il est (a fixed “it is” expression) followed by the hour:

Time	French pattern
1:00	Il est une heure.
2:00	Il est deux heures.
12:00 p.m.	Il est midi.
12:00 a.m.	Il est minuit.

Use singular heure only with one; use plural heures with all other numbered hours. French uses une, not un, because heure is a feminine noun (a naming word classified as feminine in French).

To add minutes, put them directly after heure(s):

Clock time	Common French expression
3:05	Il est trois heures cinq.
3:10	Il est trois heures dix.
3:15	Il est trois heures et quart.
3:30	Il est trois heures et demie.
3:45	Il est quatre heures moins le quart.
3:50	Il est quatre heures moins dix.

For times after the half hour, everyday French often counts back from the next hour with moins (“minus/to”). Thus 3:50 is quatre heures moins dix. You can also simply read the digits—especially in timetables—as trois heures cinquante.

Notice the agreement in et demie. Agreement means changing a word so that it matches another word. Because heure is feminine, the form is demie: une heure et demie, six heures et demie. With midi and minuit, use masculine demi: midi et demi, minuit et demi.

Do not add heures after midi or minuit. The forms midi et quart, midi et demi, minuit dix, and minuit moins le quart stand on their own.

Saying when something happens

To ask the time of an event, use à quelle heure:

• À quelle heure tu pars ? — What time are you leaving?
• À quelle heure commence le film ? — What time does the film start?

To answer, put à before the clock time:

• Je pars à huit heures. — I leave at eight.
• Le cours commence à neuf heures et demie. — The class starts at half past nine.
• On déjeune à midi. — We have lunch at noon.

Useful related prepositions (short linking words) include:

Meaning	French	Example
at	à	à sept heures
around	vers	vers sept heures
from … to …	de … à …	de neuf heures à midi
before	avant	avant dix heures
after	après	après dix heures

The days of the week

French day names are normally written with a lowercase letter.

French	English
lundi	Monday
mardi	Tuesday
mercredi	Wednesday
jeudi	Thursday
vendredi	Friday
samedi	Saturday
dimanche	Sunday

The article changes the meaning:

• lundi — on Monday, usually one specific Monday
• le lundi — on Mondays, every Monday
• ce lundi — this Monday
• lundi prochain — next Monday
• lundi dernier — last Monday

English needs “on” in “on Monday,” but French usually does not: Je travaille lundi. Do not automatically translate “on” as sur or à.

With a habit, singular le can represent the whole repeating series: Le lundi, le musée est fermé (“On Mondays, the museum is closed”). In the plural, les lundis can also mean Mondays as a group, especially when they are further described: les lundis de janvier (“the Mondays in January”). The singular pattern is the best one to learn first.

The months

Month names also normally begin with a lowercase letter.

French	English	French	English
janvier	January	juillet	July
février	February	août	August
mars	March	septembre	September
avril	April	octobre	October
mai	May	novembre	November
juin	June	décembre	December

When only the month is given, en + month means “in” that month:

• en janvier — in January
• en août — in August
• Le festival a lieu en juin. — The festival takes place in June.

Forming dates

For a normal calendar date, use:

le + number + month (+ year)

• le 15 août — August 15th
• le 24 décembre 2026 — December 24, 2026
• Nous partons le 7 avril. — We are leaving on April 7.

French normally uses a cardinal number (the ordinary counting form: deux, trois, quinze) rather than an ordinal such as English “second” or “fifteenth.” The exception is the first day of the month:

• le premier mai — May 1st
• le 2 mai — May 2nd, not le deuxième mai in an ordinary date

When a weekday is included, it comes first:

• lundi 15 août
• le lundi 15 août 2026

There is no article immediately before the month in this pattern. Say le 15 août, not le 15 d’août and not le 15 l’août.

To ask for or give the date, common patterns are:

• Quelle est la date aujourd’hui ? — What is today’s date?
• On est le combien ? — What’s the date? (informal)
• On est le 12 mars. — It’s March 12.
• Nous sommes le 12 mars. — It is March 12. (more formal)

To ask which day of the week it is, use Quel jour sommes-nous ? or, in ordinary conversation, On est quel jour ? The answer can be On est mardi (“It’s Tuesday”).

Writing numerical dates and years

French numerical dates normally follow day/month/year order:

• 05/09/2026 = 5 September 2026, not May 9
• 21/03/2027 = 21 March 2027

A year can be read as one whole cardinal number: 2026 is deux mille vingt-six. Unlike English, standard French does not normally split a year into two pairs such as “twenty twenty-six.”

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Quelle heure est-il ?	What time is it?	Standard neutral question
Il est une heure.	It is one o’clock.	Singular heure
Il est trois heures et demie.	It is half past three.	Demie agrees with heure
Il est six heures moins le quart.	It is quarter to six.	Counts back from six
Le train part à dix-sept heures vingt.	The train leaves at 5:20 p.m.	24-hour timetable style
À quelle heure tu pars ?	What time are you leaving?	Everyday informal question
Je rentre vers minuit.	I get home around midnight.	Vers means “around”
La pharmacie est ouverte de neuf heures à dix-huit heures.	The pharmacy is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.	Opening hours
Je vois Léa lundi.	I’m seeing Léa on Monday.	One particular Monday
Le lundi, je travaille à la maison.	On Mondays, I work from home.	Habitual action
Son anniversaire est en février.	His/Her birthday is in February.	En before a month
La fête est le 15 août.	The celebration is on August 15th.	Number before month
Nous sommes le premier avril.	It is April 1st.	Premier only for the first
Le rendez-vous est reporté au mardi 7 juillet.	The appointment is postponed until Tuesday, July 7.	Weekday plus full date
On est quel jour aujourd’hui ? — On est vendredi.	What day is it today? — It’s Friday.	Conversational wording

Common Mistakes

Adding an English-style preposition before a weekday

• Wrong: Je viens à lundi.
• Right: Je viens lundi.
• Why: For one particular weekday, French normally uses the day by itself. À lundi ! does exist, but it is the fixed farewell “See you Monday!”, not the pattern for saying when an action happens.

Using le for one specific upcoming day

• Wrong: Je vais chez le médecin le mardi. (when you mean one appointment this Tuesday)
• Right: Je vais chez le médecin mardi.
• Why: Le mardi normally describes a repeated Tuesday habit. Without le, mardi points to a particular Tuesday understood from context.

Making every date ordinal

• Wrong: le quinze aoûtième or le quinzième août
• Right: le 15 août
• Why: Ordinary French dates use cardinal numbers. Only day one normally uses premier: le premier août.

Putting the month first

• Wrong: août le 15
• Right: le 15 août
• Why: In French, the day comes before the month. This order also matters in all-numeric dates.

Forgetting agreement in et demie

• Wrong: Il est quatre heures et demi.
• Right: Il est quatre heures et demie.
• Why: Demi follows the feminine noun heure, so it becomes demie. Keep demi after midi and minuit: midi et demi.

Using à after il est

• Wrong: Il est à huit heures.
• Right: Il est huit heures.
• Why: Use no preposition when stating the current time. Use à when an event happens: Le film commence à huit heures.

Usage Notes

The 12-hour and 24-hour clocks

Everyday conversation often uses a 12-hour clock, with context or a time-of-day phrase making the meaning clear:

• huit heures du matin — eight in the morning
• trois heures de l’après-midi — three in the afternoon
• huit heures du soir — eight in the evening

Official schedules, transport information, appointments, and announcements commonly use the 24-hour clock: 14 h 30 is said quatorze heures trente. In that system, speakers usually read the minutes directly rather than using et quart or moins le quart. Written French often abbreviates heure(s) as h, with spaces according to careful typographic style: 9 h, 14 h 30.

Formal and conversational questions

Quelle heure est-il ? is standard and works in almost any setting. In conversation you will also hear Il est quelle heure ? (“What time is it?”). Likewise, À quelle heure pars-tu ? uses formal written-style inversion, while À quelle heure est-ce que tu pars ? and À quelle heure tu pars ? are progressively more conversational. All ask the same basic question.

French typography traditionally places a space before a question mark: Quelle heure est-il ? Informal digital messages may omit it, but the spaced form is the careful standard.

Capital letters and abbreviations

Unlike English, French does not normally capitalize days and months: write lundi 3 février, not Lundi 3 Février. Common short forms include lun., mar., mer., jeu., ven., sam., and dim. Month abbreviations occur in compact schedules, but spelling out the month avoids ambiguity.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will meet later.

Prochain and dernier can depend on viewpoint

After a day name, lundi prochain normally means the next Monday relevant to the speaker, and lundi dernier the preceding Monday. Calendar conventions and context can sometimes make “next Monday” ambiguous in both French and English. When precision matters, give the date: lundi prochain, le 12 octobre.

With months, en mai prochain means “next May,” while le mois prochain means “next month.” A year works similarly: l’année prochaine (“next year”), l’année dernière (“last year”).

Articles with dates in more complex sentences

The basic date contains le: le 15 août. When another preposition combines with that article, the normal contractions appear:

• du 3 au 7 juin — from June 3 to June 7
• à partir du 15 septembre — starting September 15
• jusqu’au 20 décembre — until December 20

Here du combines de + le, and au combines à + le. The date itself has not changed; the surrounding sentence causes the contraction.

Approximate and emphatic time

Several expressions refine a clock time:

• vers huit heures — around eight
• à huit heures environ — at about eight
• à huit heures précises — at eight exactly
• à huit heures pile — at eight on the dot (conversational)

For duration, however, do not use à: J’ai travaillé pendant deux heures means “I worked for two hours.” Compare à deux heures (“at two o’clock”) with pendant deux heures (“for two hours”). This contrast belongs to the wider topic of time prepositions, but it prevents a common misunderstanding.

Historical dates

Years use ordinary numbers, but centuries use ordinal numbers: le vingt et unième siècle (“the twenty-first century”). Historical dates may also include avant Jésus-Christ (“BC/BCE”) or après Jésus-Christ (“AD/CE”), though modern academic writing may choose other abbreviations. This is recognition-level information, not part of the beginner core.

Practice Tips

1. Build two mini calendars. Write seven one-time plans without an article—Je travaille mardi—then seven weekly habits with le—Le mardi, je fais du sport. The contrast makes the meaning of the article memorable.
2. Read a clock in two styles. For 15:45, say both quatre heures moins le quart and quinze heures quarante-cinq. Practice five random times each day, including midi and minuit.
3. Say real dates aloud. Use birthdays, appointments, and holidays: Mon anniversaire est le… Remember premier for the first, cardinal numbers for every other day, and lowercase month names.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Cardinal Numbers — provides the number forms needed for hours, minutes, dates, and years.