Date And Time In French: A Guide For Beginners [2025]

Learning how to talk about the date and time in French pays off fast. You land in Paris, glance at a train board, and suddenly every bit of basic vocabulary matters. A clerk rattles off an hour, a museum worker gives you an opening time, someone invites you out and asks “à quelle heure”. These tiny exchanges shape the whole visit, so nailing the basics feels surprisingly empowering.

In this post, you’ll learn how to say the date, read the time, and handle the everyday phrases that French speakers toss around without thinking. Let's begin!

How to express the date in French?

French speakers switch between formal and casual patterns, but a couple of phrases cover every situation. These questions sound natural with friends, coworkers, and strangers. Each one aims for the same thing, but the rhythm and tone change slightly depending on how relaxed you want to sound.

• If you need the number, pick on est le combien.
• If you need the weekday, pick c’est quel jour.
• If you need the whole thing, pick c’est quoi la date aujourd’hui.

on est le combien is the most learner-friendly option because it directly asks for the number. If you forget the month or weekday, people still understand exactly what you need.

How to say the full date in French?

When you say a full date in French, you stack the pieces in one fixed order. No switching, no optional extra words. You start with le, then the day of the month, then the month, and finally the year. If you want to include the weekday, it sits right after le, before the number. This is the only pattern French uses, so once it clicks, you can say any date without thinking.

• le lundi 4 mars 2024
  the Monday 4 March 2024
• le samedi 12 août 2023
  the Saturday 12 August 2023
• le mercredi 1er janvier 2025
  the Wednesday 1 January 2025
• le 18 novembre 2024
  the 18 November 2024 (weekday omitted)

You need the months ready to drop into any date, so here’s the full list with simple example dates. Learn the words, see how they look inside real dates, and you’re set.

What are the days of the week in French?

French weekdays look simple, but learners mix them up because none of them take capital letters and most end the same way. You only need to remember that each word refers to a specific day, and that French drops extra prepositions.

• lundi = Monday
• mardi = Tuesday
• mercredi = Wednesday
• jeudi = Thursday
• vendredi = Friday
• samedi = Saturday
• dimanche = Sunday

Use a plain weekday when you’re talking about one specific day.
je travaille lundi = I work on Monday (this week)

French also attaches le to a weekday when you want to say that something happens every week. For instance, je travaille le lundi = I work on Mondays (every week).

What are the months in French?

You only need two things to use months correctly in French: the full list and the rule that controls them. When a month stands alone, pair it with en. When it sits inside a full date, drop en and use the regular pattern: le + day + month + year.

Which numbers are used for the date?

French dates use regular numbers. The only exception is the first day of the month, which becomes le premier. Every other day uses the standard number. You place the number directly after le.

How to say the year in French?

Years are spoken as one continuous number. No breaking the year into two parts. When the year stands alone, use en. When it follows a full date, omit the preposition.

How to write dates in French?

French always writes dates in day / month / year order, both in words and numbers. The month never goes first. You can write the day with or without a leading zero.

How to tell time in French?

Being able to tell time and talk about duration is essential when you're learning French. Whether you're scheduling a meeting, making dinner plans, or talking about how long you've been studying French, you'll need these skills. This guide covers everything you need to know about time expressions in French.

The Basics

The French word for "hour" is heure, and it replaces "o'clock" when telling time. The most important thing to remember? Unlike English where you can say "It's almost five," in French you must always include heures.

The standard formula is simple: Il est + [hour] + heure(s) + [minutes]

For example:

• Il est trois heures – It's three o'clock
• Il est dix heures quinze – It's 10:15
• Il est une heure – It's one o'clock (note the singular heure)

When it's one o'clock, you use the singular heure since there's only one hour. For all other times, you use the plural heures.

Writing Time in French

When writing time in numbers, French uses "h" for heure instead of a colon. So you'll write:

• 15h30 (3:30 PM)
• 8h45 (8:45 AM)
• 22h00 (10:00 PM)

Special Times

There are two special times that don't use numbers:

• Il est midi – It's noon (12:00 PM)
• Il est minuit – It's midnight (12:00 AM)

How to Ask for the Time in French

There are several ways to ask what time it is, all equally correct:

Quelle heure est-il? – What time is it? (most common) Il est quelle heure? – What time is it? (slightly more casual)

For a more polite approach, especially when asking a stranger: Auriez-vous l'heure, s'il vous plaît? – Would you have the time, please?

When and How to Use the 24-Hour Clock in French

In French, time is based on the 24-hour clock, whereas in English, the 12-hour clock is used more frequently. This is the formal standard in France and is used for:

• Official schedules (trains, buses, flights)
• Business meetings
• TV program listings
• Store hours

How It Works

For 8:00 AM, you'd say il est huit heures, and for 8:00 PM (20:00), you'd say il est vingt heures.

Examples:

• Il est treize heures – It's 1:00 PM (13:00)
• Il est dix-sept heures trente – It's 5:30 PM (17:30)
• Il est vingt-deux heures – It's 10:00 PM (22:00)

Important Rule for 24-Hour Clock

When using the 24-hour clock, you must use quinze, trente, and quarante-cinq instead of et quart, et demie, and moins le quart.

When and How to Use the 12-Hour Clock in French

In spoken French, especially when reading time from an analog clock or writing out the time in words, it's common to use the 12-hour clock for the second half of the day.

Adding Time of Day Indicators

Since there's no "AM" or "PM" in French, you add these phrases to clarify:

• du matin – in the morning (midnight to noon)
• de l'après-midi – in the afternoon (noon to around 6 PM)
• du soir – in the evening (6 PM to midnight)

Examples:

• Il est huit heures du matin – It's 8:00 AM
• Il est trois heures de l'après-midi – It's 3:00 PM
• Il est neuf heures du soir – It's 9:00 PM

Using Quarter Hours and Half Hours

For conversational French, you can use these helpful shortcuts:

Et quart – quarter past

• Il est deux heures et quart – It's 2:15

Et demie – half past

• Il est six heures et demie – It's 6:30

Moins le quart – quarter to

• Il est cinq heures moins le quart – It's 4:45 (literally: five hours minus a quarter)

Moins – minutes to the hour

• Il est onze heures moins dix – It's 10:50 (literally: eleven hours minus ten)

How to Describe Lengths of Time in French

Talking about duration in French requires different prepositions depending on whether an action is ongoing, completed, or planned. Here are the main expressions:

Depuis – For ongoing actions (since/for)

Use depuis when an action started in the past but is still ongoing at the time you speak.

• J'apprends le français depuis trois ans – I've been learning French for three years (and still am)
• Elle habite à Paris depuis 2020 – She's been living in Paris since 2020

The verb following depuis is typically in the present tense in French, even though in English we would use the present perfect continuous.

Pendant – For completed actions (for/during)

Use pendant or durant when expressing a duration with a clear beginning and end, whether in the past, present, or future.

• J'ai étudié pendant deux heures – I studied for two hours (finished studying)
• Il a vécu à Lyon pendant cinq ans – He lived in Lyon for five years (no longer lives there)
• Je vais travailler pendant trois heures – I'm going to work for three hours

Pour – For future planned actions (for)

Use pour to express future durations with a notion of intent.

• Je pars en France pour deux semaines – I'm leaving for France for two weeks
• Ils viennent pour le weekend – They're coming for the weekend

Il y a – Ago

Use il y a when talking about how long ago something happened:

• Je suis arrivé il y a dix minutes – I arrived ten minutes ago
• Elle a commencé il y a trois mois – She started three months ago

How to Say the Seasons in French

The four seasons in French are: le printemps (spring), l'été (summer), l'automne (fall/autumn), and l'hiver (winter).

The Four Seasons

• Le printemps (luh pran-tahn) – Spring
• L'été (lay-tay) – Summer
• L'automne (loh-ton) – Autumn/Fall
• L'hiver (lee-vair) – Winter

All four seasons are masculine nouns in French and always appear in lowercase letters.

Using Prepositions with Seasons

Three seasons use en (été, automne, hiver) because they start with vowel sounds, while printemps uses au because it starts with a consonant.

• Au printemps – In spring
• En été – In summer
• En automne – In autumn/fall
• En hiver – In winter

Examples:

• En été, je vais à la plage – In summer, I go to the beach
• Au printemps, les fleurs poussent – In spring, the flowers grow
• En automne, les feuilles tombent – In autumn, the leaves fall
• En hiver, il neige – In winter, it snows

Talking About Your Favorite Season

• Quelle est votre saison préférée? – What's your favorite season?
• Ma saison préférée est l'été – My favorite season is summer
• J'adore le printemps – I love spring

Start Speaking French Confidently with Lingopie

Now that you've mastered the essentials of telling time, describing durations, and talking about seasons in French, it's time to put these skills into practice. The best way to solidify what you've learned? Immerse yourself in real French conversations and authentic content.

That's where Lingopie comes in.

Lingopie helps you learn French the way native speakers actually use it—through binge-worthy TV shows, movies, and series. Instead of memorizing verb conjugations from a textbook, you'll hear French characters naturally say things like "Il est quelle heure?" when they're running late, or "J'habite ici depuis trois ans" when talking about their lives.

Whether you're watching a French rom-com where characters make dinner plans ("On se voit à vingt heures?") or a drama discussing past events ("Ça s'est passé il y a deux ans"), you'll encounter these time expressions in meaningful, memorable contexts.

Ready to take your French to the next level? Try Lingopie today and transform your learning experience from boring drills to entertaining, immersive content that actually sticks.