Times, days, and dates
Read a simple schedule and agree on a time.
What you’ll work on
- Tell the time with il est.
- Distinguish a time from an appointment at that time.
- Use days of the week and simple dates.
A short conversation
Google voice when available; device voice as a fallback. Read along, then try each line aloud.
Quelle heure est-il ?
What time is it?
Il est neuf heures et demie.
It is half past nine.
Le musée ouvre à dix heures. On y va mardi ?
The museum opens at ten. Shall we go on Tuesday?
Oui, mardi trois novembre, à dix heures.
Yes, Tuesday, November third, at ten.
Tell the time
Il est introduces a clock time: il est une heure, il est deux heures. Use the plural heures except with one. Midi means noon and minuit means midnight.
Et quart means quarter past, et demie means half past with heures, and moins le quart means quarter to. With midi or minuit, write et demi without the final e.
Arrange an activity
Use à for an activity at a time: le musée ouvre à dix heures. Do not add il est inside this phrase. From nine to five is de neuf heures à dix-sept heures.
The 24-hour clock is common on schedules: 18 h 30 means eighteen thirty, or six thirty in the evening. Reading a time in this format avoids ambiguity between morning and evening.
Use days and dates
The days are lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche. They normally begin with a lowercase letter. Mardi can mean this coming Tuesday in context; le mardi often describes Tuesdays as a habit.
For dates, use a number with the month: le trois novembre. The first of a month is le premier, not le un. French normally places the day before the month.
Lesson vocabulary
Listen once, say it aloud, and try to recall the French before looking.
| French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| une heure | an hour / one o’clock | |
| et quart | quarter past | |
| et demie | half past (with heures) | |
| midi | noon | |
| minuit | midnight | |
| lundi | Monday | |
| mardi | Tuesday | |
| un rendez-vous | an appointment |
Practice questions
Try every question, then check your answers. Capital letters and punctuation do not affect your score. Accents and ç do matter.
Showing an answer makes that question a practice item worth zero for this attempt. Retry with the answers hidden when you’re ready. If audio cannot play, use Show answer / text to practice by reading.
Independent practice
These are independent practice tasks. The site does not record your voice, save your writing, or grade open-ended answers. Ask a teacher or conversation partner for feedback when you can.
Speaking practice
Tell the current or an invented time, then arrange an activity on a named day.
Writing practice
Write a three-item schedule with days and 24-hour times.
Review the lesson objectives
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