French Telling Time

You use the verb être with numbers to tell time.

Use the following expression to ask what time it is:

quelle heure est-il?

To tell time on the hour...

Use a [number] + heures
Use une heure for one o'clock.
Start your time expression with "il est."

Il est six heures.

Il est une heure.

by stating the number of minutes past the hour.

9:05 --> Il est neuf heures cinq.

11:20 --> Il est onze heures vingt.

to say that it is 15 minutes past the hour.

2:15 --> Il est deux heures et quart.

to say that it is 30 minutes past the hour.

4:30 --> Il est quatre heures et demie.

Use moins and subtract the number of minutes or the portion of an hour from the next hour.

2:50 --> Il est trois heures moins dix.
12:45 --> Il est une heure moins le quart.

Use the preposition à

Le cours commence à neuf heures.
The class starts at 9:00.

Nous avons un examen à une heure.
We have a test at 1:00.

Liaison occurs between numbers and the word heure.

Final -s, and -x in deux, trois, six, and dix are pronounced like a z.
The -f is on neuf is pronounced like a v.
Il est deux heures.
Il est neuf heures et quart.

the 24-hour clock is often used to express official time.

Departure times, movie times, and store hours are expressed this way.
Official time is also becoming more popular in everyday conversation.
Only numbers are used to tell time this way.
Expressions like et demie, moins le quart, etc. are not used.

examples

Le train arrive à dix-sept heures six.
The train arrives at 5:06 PM.

Le film est à vingt-deux heures trente-sept.
The film is at 10:37 PM.

When writing the time in French using numbers, the hour and minutes are separatede by the letter h which stands for heure(s), while a colon is used in english.

3:25 --> 3h25 11:10 --> 11h10 5:15 --> 5h15 9:30 pm--> 21h45