Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

To state the time in French, always use the impersonal pronoun **il** (it). The basic formula is **Il est + [number] + heure(s)**.

{{item:864764}}

{{item:864765}}

### Time of day

Because French often relies on a 12-hour clock in casual conversation, add phrases like **du matin** (in the morning) to clarify.

{{item:864767}}

### Fractions of an hour and minutes

To state an exact time, say the number of minutes directly after the word *heure(s)*. For common fractions, add **et quart** (a quarter past) or **et demie** (half past).

{{item:864773}}

{{item:864775}}

Past the 30-minute mark, subtract minutes from the upcoming hour using **moins** (less / to). For "a quarter to", use **moins le quart**.

{{item:864779}}

{{item:864778}}

### Noon and midnight

Instead of "twelve o'clock", French uses **midi** (noon) and **minuit** (midnight). Since these don't use the feminine word *heure*, use the masculine form **demi** (without the "e") to say "half past".

{{item:864781}}

{{item:864785}}

### Early and late

Use the adverbs **tôt** (early) and **tard** (late) to talk about time in relation to a schedule.

{{item:864789}}

{{item:864787}}

Telling time (il est... heure)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular 'to be' and indefinite articles (je suis un...)

Singular definite articles (le, la, l')

Identifying vs. describing (c'est vs. il est)

Feminine adjective agreement (+e)

Plural pronouns and 'to be' (nous sommes, vous êtes)

Formal and informal you (tu vs. vous)

Plural nouns and indefinite articles (des... -s)

Plural definite articles (les)

Plural adjective agreement (+s)

Stressed pronouns (moi, toi, lui)

The verb "to have" singular (j'ai, tu as, il a)

The verb "to have" plural (nous avons, vous avez, ils ont)

There is / there are (il y a)

Basic verbal negation (ne... pas)

Negating "there is" (il n'y a pas de)

Regular -er verbs singular (je parle, tu parles, il parle)

Regular -er verbs plural (nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent)

The verb "to be called" (s'appeler)

Yes/no questions with intonation (Tu parles ?)

Yes/no questions with "Est-ce que" (Est-ce que tu parles ?)

Informal questions (qui, que, quoi)

Standard questions (est-ce que)

Singular possessives (mon, ton, son)

Plural possessives (notre, votre, leur)

Demonstrative adjectives (ce, cet, cette, ces)

Adjective placement

Numbers 1 to 20

Numbers 21 to 100

Age and physical states (avoir)

The verb to go (aller)

The preposition to/at (à, au, aux)

Question word for location (où)

Prepositions for cities and countries (à, en, au, aux)

The verb to come (venir)

The preposition from/of (de, du, des)

Question word for origin (d'où)

The verb to do/make (faire)

Days of the week (lundi, mardi)

Question words for time (quand, à quelle heure)

The verb to take or have (prendre)

The verb to drink (boire)

Partitive articles (du, de la, de l')

Zero quantity (pas de)

Expressions of quantity (un peu de, beaucoup de)

Asking how much or how many (combien, combien de)

Very vs. a lot (très, beaucoup)

The verb to want (vouloir)

Polite requests (je voudrais)

The verb to be able to (pouvoir)

Obligation (devoir)

General obligation (il faut)

Why and because (pourquoi, parce que)

Expressing purpose (pour)

Reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nous, vous)

Daily routine verbs (se lever, s'habiller)

Adverbs of frequency (parfois, rarement)

Never (ne... jamais)

Regular -ir verbs (choisir, finir)

Regular -re verbs (attendre, répondre)

Irregular -ir verbs (sortir, partir, dormir)

Informal 'we' (on)

The imperative mood

Direct object pronouns (le, la, les, l')

The near future (aller + infinitive)

The recent past (venir de + infinitive)

The passé composé with avoir

Irregular past participles (eu, été, fait, pris, vu)

The passé composé with être

The negative passé composé (ne ... pas)

Saying goodbye

Please, sorry and thank you

Which / what (quel)

The indefinite adjective (tout, tous)

Irregular feminine adjectives (-euse, -ve)

Double consonant adjectives (-enne, -ette)

Feminine adjective endings (-ère, -trice)

Irregular plurals (-x)

Plurals ending in -al (-aux)

Present tense stem changes (e to è)

Accent stem changes (é to è)

Double consonant verbs (appeler, jeter)

Verbs ending in -yer (payer, envoyer)

Irregular communication verbs (dire, lire)

Irregular action verbs (écrire, mettre)

Knowing facts vs. familiarity (savoir, connaître)

Question	Answer
the hour / o'clock (f)	l'heure
It is three o'clock.	Il est trois heures.
No, it is not two o'clock.	Non, il n'est pas deux heures.
the morning	le matin
It is nine o'clock in the morning.	Il est neuf heures du matin.
I do not like the morning.	Je n'aime pas le matin.
the minute	la minute
There are sixty minutes in an hour.	Il y a soixante minutes dans une heure.
Do you have a minute?	Tu as une minute ?
the quarter	le quart
quarter past	et quart
It is a quarter past four.	Il est quatre heures et quart.
half	demi
half past	et demie
It is half past five.	Il est cinq heures et demie.
The train arrives in a quarter of an hour.	Le train arrive dans un quart d'heure.
less / to (time)	moins
quarter to	moins le quart
It is a quarter to ten.	Il est dix heures moins le quart.
It is five to seven.	Il est sept heures moins cinq.
noon	midi
It is half past noon.	Il est midi et demi.
We eat at noon.	Nous mangeons à midi.
midnight	minuit
late	tard
It is already midnight, it is late.	Il est déjà minuit, il est tard.
They do not study at midnight.	Ils n'étudient pas à minuit.
It is late, where is the hotel?	Il est tard, où est l'hôtel ?
early	tôt
He always arrives early.	Il arrive toujours tôt.
I am tired, it is very early.	Je suis fatigué, il est très tôt.
what time is it?	quelle heure est-il
What time is it? It is noon.	Quelle heure est-il ? Il est midi.
Excuse me sir, what time is it?	Pardon Monsieur, quelle heure est-il ?
The train arrives at a quarter past six.	Le train arrive à six heures et quart.
The match starts at half past eight.	Le match commence à huit heures et demie.
She arrives at half past seven.	Elle arrive à sept heures et demie.
It is a quarter to nine, I am leaving.	Il est neuf heures moins le quart, je pars.
the afternoon	l'après-midi
In the afternoon, I take a nap.	L'après-midi, je fais une sieste.
In the afternoon, there are a lot of people in the street.	L'après-midi, il y a beaucoup de gens dans la rue.

Contributors