Quelle heure est-il ? Il est midi.

Breakdown of Quelle heure est-il ? Il est midi.

midi
noon
quelle heure est-il
what time is it?

Questions & Answers about Quelle heure est-il ? Il est midi.

Why does the answer start with Il est? Does il mean "he" here?
While il usually means "he", here it acts as a neutral "it". When telling time in French, you always start with Il est... (It is...). You cannot use C'est for telling the time.
Why is the question phrased as est-il instead of il est?
This is a common way to ask questions in French called inversion. You simply swap the subject (il) and the verb (est) and link them with a hyphen. In casual speech, you might also hear Quelle heure il est ? without the swap.
Why do we use Quelle instead of Quel?
The word for "what" or "which" has to match the gender of the noun it belongs to. Because the word heure is feminine, you must use the feminine form Quelle.
Why don't we say Il est midi heures?
The words midi (noon) and minuit (midnight) are special. Unlike numbers, they already contain the idea of time, so you never add the word heure or heures after them.

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