List 4 - Times and dates

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In your travels and during your stay in any French-speaking setting, it will be very helpful if you can understand and talk about times and dates.

Talking about the time

There is an informal and a formal way to talk about the time in French. Basically, the informal one is like conversational English - "half past two" etc. In formal language, the French use the 24-hour clock and therefore there is no need for "am", "pm", "in the evening" or other expressions when discussing timetables etc. Official times in French, including school and transport schedules, as well as business and office opening times, are normally given using formal times.

l'heure	the time
quelle heure est-il?	what time is it?
il est une heure	it's one o'clock
il est deux heures (note the "s" for plural)	it's two o'clock
il est deux heures et quart	it's a quarter past two
il est deux heures et demie	it's half past two
il est trois heures moins le quart	it's a quarter to three
à sept heures du matin	at seven in the morning
à quatre heures de l'après-midi	at four in the afternoon
à six heures du soir	at six in the evening
quatorze heures (14h)	2 pm (formal time on 24 hour clock)
dix-sept heures (17h)	5 pm (formal time on 24 hour clock)
le matin	morning
l'après-midi	afternoon
le soir	evening
la soirée (eg "une soirée au restaurant"	evening viewed as a period of time containing events etc (eg "an evening at the restaurant")

Talking about the date

Except for the first of the month, French just uses the number for the date (eg "two, three"), not its ordinal form "second", "third". So you say "le premier septembre", but the next day is "le deux septembre" and the last day of the year is "le trente et un décembre. See List 1 for the numbers in French. Another contrast with English: the days and months are written with a lower case initial letter in French (eg lundi = Monday).

le jour	day	janvier	January
la semaine	week	février	February
le mois	month	mars	March
l'an / l'année	year	avril	April
lundi	Monday	mai	May
mardi	Tuesday	juin	June
mercredi	Wednesday	juillet	July
jeudi	Thursday	août	August
vendredi	Friday	septembre	September
samedi	Saturday	octobre	October
dimanche	Sunday	novembre	November
		décembre	December

The seasons - les saisons

l'été / en été	summer / in summer
l'automne / en automne	autumn / in autumn
l'hiver / en hiver	winter / in winter
printemps / au printemps	spring / in spring

Daily routine - la routine quotidienne / le quotidien

Many verbs relating to daily routine are reflexive verbs (des verbes pronominaux) in French. Any action done to oneself (such as washing hands, brushing teeth) is in this category. Also reflexive are actions such as getting up, as opposed to raising something (contrast se lever - to get up; lever la main - to raise one's hand).

aller au lit	to go to bed
balayer	to sweep
se brosser les cheveux/les dents	to brush one's hair/teeth
se coucher	to go to bed
faire la lessive	to do the washing (laundry)
faire la vaisselle	to do the washing up
s'habiller	to get dressed
se laver les mains	to wash one's hands
se lever	to get up
se macquiller	to put on make-up
passer l'aspirateur	to do the vaccuuming
prendre une douche	to take a shower / have a shower
prendre le petit déjeuner / le déjeuner (prendre le repas de midi) / le dîner	to have breakfast / lunch / dinner (note the use of "take" not "have" in French)
quitter la maison	to leave the house
regarder la télé	to watch tv
passer l'aspirateur	to do the vaccuuming
se réveiller	to wake up

Expressions of time

un an	a year
après	after
l'après-midi	afternoon
aujourd'hui	today
avant	before
demain	tomorrow
de temps en temps	from time to time
ensuite	next
hier	yesterday
le lendemain	the next day
maintenant	now
le matin	morning
le mois	month
(et) puis	(and) then
quelquefois	sometimes
la semaine	week
le soir	evening
souvent	often
la veille	the day before