Heure (part 1)

This video is part of our free course beginners 1

Rules

Use the 24 hours clock (the 12 hours clock can be used with people you know).
“Heure” is a feminine word in French, so for 1:00 and 21:00 use “une” not “un.”
To turn the word “heure” into plural add a silent “s” at the end of it.
Times must be preceded by the impersonal subject “il” and the verb “est.”
“À” means “at” in front of a time.

01:05 Il est une heure cinq

21:10 Il est vingt-et-une heures dix

At 10:00 À dix heures

Question

Quelle heure est-il ? (F) / Il est quelle heure ? (I) → What time is it?
Il est …. → It’s ….

The minutes

For the minutes, we use the normal numbers except for:

15 Et quart

30 Et demi. (or “trente”)

35 Moins vingt-cinq

40 Moins vingt

45 Moins le quart

50 Moins dix

55 Moins cinq

Note
“Et quart” is pronounced ‘ey car” and “moins” is pronounced “mwan.”

The hours

For the morning, use the numbers 1 to 12 and for the afternoon/evening/night use the numbers 13 to 24. We never say or use 12 for midday, but we say “midi,” and we pronounce it “mee dee” and we never say or use 24 for midnight but we say “minuit” and we pronounce it “mee nwee.”

Note
The afternoon ends at 18:00. The night is only when you sleep. If you are not asleep, it’s still the evening.