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11. Time and date

 At the end of this chapter, you will be able to read and write time and date. You will also be able to

schedule a meeting and to catch a plane on time!

Quelle heure est-il?

"What time is it ?" in French is "Quelle heure est-il?" . Asing for time or answering this uestion is easy.

ost of the time, French people use a #$-hour time format. %o, &pm is rather &' heures (trei)e heures*.

%ome e+amples

• e ais au traail / 0 heures.

Everyday, I go to my office at 7am.

• 1ai un rende)-ous / &2 heures.

I have a meeting at 3pm.3ime is written in a 44h format and a French day can be diided into 2 parts

2h - h le matin or la matin5e

h - &$h le midi

&$h - &6h l1apr7s-midi

&6h - #'h le soir 

#'h - 2h la nuit

%ometimes, French use a -hour time format to insist on the time.

• e me l7e / 6 heures du matin.

I wake-up at 6 o'cock. ! I" I# E$%&  (

• e me couche / 11 heures du soir .

I go to )ed at **pm. ! I" I# &$"E  (

8et1s answer the basic uestion "Quelle heure est-il ?"...

3ime 9ronounciation

8h il est huit heures

6h:0 il est huit heures sept

8h15 il est huit heures uin)e

8h30 il est huit heures trente

6h'2 il est huit heures trente cin

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8h45 il est huit heures uarante cin

6h2$ il est huit heures cinuante uatre

;urrent time, in 9aris, is "il est "

"Il est" is impersonal. nglish when you say "it is + o'cock ".

Quel jour sommes-nous?

"What is today's date" is said "Quel =our sommes-nous ?" .

ays of the wee are the following. nglish.

4ere are the names of the months in French

onths ois

 =anuary =anier 

february f5rier  

march mars

april aril

may mai

 =une =uin

 =uly =uillet

august aoBt

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september septembre

october octobre

noember noembre

december d5cembre

 A complete date is built on this model

day dayC month year 

For e+ample, when we wrote this page the date was

mercredi &: noembre &DDD

 A particular case occurs on the first day of the month. French write "samedi &er  =anier #:::". "er " means

"premier" (first *.

3o the uestion "Quel =our sommes-nous ?", we could hae answered

• nous sommes le mercredi &: noembre &DDD

• or  nous sommes le mercredi &: noembre

• or  nous sommes le mercredi &:

• or  nous sommes le &:

• or  nous sommes mercredi

N.B. ate is sometimes written EEYYYY. For e+ample,

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• un =our (m*

a day 

• midi

midday 

• minuit

midnight 

• 1ai un rende)-ous / &G heures. (&*

I have a meeting at pm.

• e prend le train de #:h&2.

I take the +*4pm train.

• une saison (f*

a season

• le printemps (m*

spring 

• l15t5 (m*

summer • l1automne (m*

autumn

• l1hier (m*

winter 

(m)@masculine, (f)@feminine

(1) a "rende)-ous" is not only something romantic. t can also deal with business.

Bonjour or bonne journée?

%hould say )on1our , )onne 1ourn5e, )onsoir , etc... when meetingEleaing someone ?

3he table below gies the answer

  when meeting s.o. when leaing s.o.

in the morning

bon=our 

bonne matin5e

in the afternoon bon apr7s-midi

in the eening

bonsoir 

bonne soir5e

at night bonne nuit

%ome e+amples

• Hon=our aman, tu as bien dormi ?

ood morning um, did you seep we

• Honne =ourn5e monsieur Ioland.

8ave a good day r %oand.

• Honsoir! ;omment alle)-ous ?

ood evening9 8ow are you doing

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• Honne nuit Antoine.

ood night $ntoine.