Time & Dates in French

Overview

Telling time and expressing dates are fundamental A1 skills that you will use every day in French. Whether you are scheduling a meeting, catching a train, or simply asking what time it is, you need to know how French handles hours, minutes, days, and months.

French uses a 12-hour system in casual speech and a 24-hour system in formal contexts like schedules, timetables, and official announcements. The question Quelle heure est-il? (What time is it?) is one of the first phrases every learner encounters, and the answer follows a consistent pattern built around il est... heure(s).

For dates, French uses cardinal numbers (not ordinals, except for the first of the month) and places the day before the month — the opposite of American English. Days of the week and months are not capitalized in French, which can catch English speakers off guard.

How It Works

Telling time:

French	English	Note
Il est une heure.	It's one o'clock.	Singular: heure (no -s)
Il est deux heures.	It's two o'clock.	Plural: heures
Il est midi.	It's noon.	No "heures"
Il est minuit.	It's midnight.	No "heures"
Il est trois heures et quart.	It's quarter past three.	+15 min
Il est trois heures et demie.	It's half past three.	+30 min
Il est quatre heures moins le quart.	It's quarter to four.	-15 min
Il est six heures dix.	It's 6:10.	Just add minutes
Il est huit heures moins cinq.	It's 7:55.	Subtract minutes

Days of the week:

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

Expressing dates:

Pattern	Example	Meaning
le + number + month	le 15 août	August 15th
le premier + month	le premier janvier	January 1st
le + day	le lundi	on Mondays (habitual)
day without article	lundi	this Monday (one time)

Key points:

• Use le + day of the week for habitual actions: le lundi = on Mondays. Without le, it refers to the coming occurrence: lundi = this Monday.
• Only the 1st of a month uses premier: le premier mars. All other dates use cardinal numbers: le deux mars, le quinze avril.
• Months are lowercase in French: janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre.
• The 24-hour clock is common in written contexts: Il est 14h30 = 2:30 PM.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Il est trois heures et demie.	It's half past three.	Common time expression
Le lundi, je travaille.	On Mondays, I work.	Habitual with le
Le 15 août, c'est férié.	August 15th is a holiday.	Date format
À quelle heure tu pars?	What time do you leave?	Asking about time
Le film commence à vingt heures.	The film starts at 8 PM.	24-hour clock
Nous sommes le 3 mars.	It's March 3rd.	Stating today's date
Mon anniversaire est le 10 juin.	My birthday is June 10th.	Personal date
Il est midi et demi.	It's 12:30 PM.	demi (not demie) after midi
Je pars vendredi.	I'm leaving this Friday.	No article = this Friday
Le cours commence à neuf heures moins le quart.	The class starts at quarter to nine.	Subtraction method

Common Mistakes

Using ordinal numbers for dates

• Wrong: Le deuxième mars
• Right: Le deux mars
• Why: Only le premier uses an ordinal. All other dates use cardinal numbers.

Capitalizing days and months

• Wrong: Lundi, Janvier
• Right: lundi, janvier
• Why: Unlike English, French does not capitalize days of the week or months of the year.

Confusing "le lundi" and "lundi"

• Wrong: Le lundi, je vais au cinéma (meaning this Monday only)
• Right: Lundi, je vais au cinéma (this Monday) or Le lundi, je vais au cinéma (every Monday)
• Why: Adding le before a day makes it habitual. Without le, it refers to the next occurrence.

Saying "demie" after midi/minuit

• Wrong: Il est midi et demie.
• Right: Il est midi et demi.
• Why: After midi and minuit (masculine), use demi without the -e. After heure (feminine), use demie.

Practice Tips

1. Practice telling the current time throughout the day in French. Set reminders to check and say the time aloud at random intervals.
2. Memorize your own important dates (birthday, anniversaries) and say them in French format: Mon anniversaire est le [number] [month].
3. Practice the "moins" (subtraction) method for times like 7:45, 8:50, and 9:40 — this pattern takes practice but is very natural in spoken French.

Related Concepts

• Cardinal Numbers — the numbers used in time and date expressions