Times and Dates

Understanding and expressing time in French: To ask the time, one may use “Quelle heure est-il?” (What time is it?). To respond, use “Il est __ heure(s)” for full hours, “Il est __ heure(s) et quart” for quarter past, “Il est __ heure(s) et demie” for half past, and “Il est __ heure(s) moins le quart” for quarter to.
French 12-hour clock: The 12-hour clock is commonly used in French, especially in casual speech. An example would be “Il est une heure de l’après-midi” (It’s one in the afternoon).
French 24-hour clock: However, in writing and more formal speech, the 24-hour clock is typically used. An example would be “Il est quatorze heures” (It is fourteen hours, or 2:00 PM).
Days of the week in French: Monday to Sunday translates to “lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche”.
Understanding “hier”, “aujourd’hui”, “demain”: “Yesterday” is “hier”, “today” is “aujourd’hui”, and “tomorrow” is “demain”. Remember to add “matin” (morning), “après-midi” (afternoon) or “soir” (evening) after “hier”, “aujourd’hui”, and “demain” to specify the time of day.
Months of the year in French: January to December translates to “janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre”.
Seasons in French: To denote seasons, “spring” is “le printemps”, “summer” is “l’été”, “autumn” is “l’automne”, and “winter” is “l’hiver”.
Dates in French: To say the date, use “le” before the number and “de” before the month. For example, “le cinq de mai” is “May 5th”. First of a month is “le premier”.
Plurals and agreement: Note that days of the week, months of the year, and seasons do not need to agree in gender and number (they usually stay in the masculine singular form, unless it’s a specific date or you are talking about several Mondays, for example).
Prepositions of time: “à” is used with specific times, “en” with months and seasons, “le” with days and dates, and “pendant” or “durant” to say “during”.
Telling frequency and specific times: Useful phrases include “tous les jours” (every day), “chaque semaine” (every week), “le matin” (in the morning), “l’après-midi” (in the afternoon), “la nuit” (at night).