Telling Time in French
Il Est Dix Heures and the 24-Hour Standard
Updated May 2026
Telling time in French has two coexisting systems. The 12-hour form (huit heures et quart du matin) is what people use in casual conversation. The 24-hour form (huit heures quinze, written 8h15) is the official standard for transport, broadcasting, government, and most professional writing. Both have been part of French speech for over a century, and learners need to be able to switch fluently between them.
This page covers the constructions for both, the special positions for half-past and quarter-past and quarter-to, the gender quirks of et demie versus et demi, the unique single-word names for noon and midnight, and the conventions for writing time in formal text. Pronunciation notes are given alongside each form so learners can see how the spoken French time-telling differs from the written.
The Basic Pattern
Every French time expression starts with il est (it is). After that comes the hour, then the word heure (singular for one o’clock) or heures (plural for everything else). So il est une heure means “it is one o’clock”; il est cinq heures means “it is five o’clock”; il est dix heures means “it is ten o’clock”.
For times that include minutes, you append the minutes as a plain cardinal number with no preposition. Il est dix heures vingt = “it is ten twenty”. Il est trois heures cinq = “it is three oh five”. There is no need for the word “and” or “past” or any other connector when you give the minutes directly. The simple concatenation is the rule.
Three positions get special names: a quarter past (et quart), half past (et demie), and a quarter to the next hour (moins le quart). These are constructed forms used only in 12-hour speech; 24-hour formal time uses the plain numeric minute form even for these positions (huit heures quinze, vingt heures trente, vingt-deux heures quarante-cinq).
Time Reference Table
| Time | French | English | Note | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | minuit | midnight | No "il est le minuit"; just "il est minuit". | |
| 01:00 | une heure du matin | 1 AM | Singular "heure" with "une". | |
| 06:00 | six heures du matin | 6 AM | Plural "heures". | |
| 07:30 | sept heures et demie du matin | 7:30 AM | et demie agrees with feminine heure. | |
| 08:15 | huit heures et quart | 8:15 AM | et quart, no agreement issue. | |
| 09:45 | dix heures moins le quart | 9:45 AM | Said as 10 minus a quarter. | |
| 10:25 | dix heures vingt-cinq | 10:25 AM | Specific minutes given as a plain number. | |
| 12:00 | midi | 12 noon | Single-word, no article. | |
| 12:30 | midi et demi | 12:30 PM | demi (no e) for masculine midi. | |
| 14:00 | quatorze heures | 2 PM (24-hour) | Standard official form. | |
| 18:30 | dix-huit heures trente | 6:30 PM (24-hour) | Trente, not "et demie", in 24h form. | |
| 20:00 | vingt heures | 8 PM (24-hour) | Le 20h news on TF1 / France 2. | |
| 23:45 | vingt-trois heures quarante-cinq | 11:45 PM (24-hour) | No "moins le quart" in 24h speech. |
12-Hour Versus 24-Hour: When Each Is Used
The 12-hour form is used in casual speech. If a friend asks il est quelle heure?, you answer il est huit heures et quart du soir rather than il est vingt heures quinze. The 12-hour speech form is what every French native speaker uses for ordinary conversation, telling someone what time you will meet, telling a child it is bedtime.
The 24-hour form dominates everywhere a written or precise time is involved. SNCF railway timetables (le train de 18h47 pour Lyon), airline schedules (vol AF1234 départ 14h05), TV listings (le 20h sur France 2), public service hours (ouvert de 9h00 à 17h30), workplace meetings (réunion à 14h30), official documents and contracts. The 20h evening news bulletin is so iconic that it has become a fixed cultural reference; the noun le 20h in French refers specifically to the prime-time evening news.
The 24-hour form is also standard for any context where ambiguity matters. A medical appointment at huit heures could be 8 AM or 8 PM; the 24-hour 8h00 or 20h00 removes the doubt without requiring du matin or du soir tags. French health, education, and government online services all default to 24-hour scheduling input fields.
The Et Demie Versus Et Demi Gender Rule
Demi agrees in gender with the noun it follows when it appears after a noun. Heure is feminine, so a half-past hour takes demie with an e: il est dix heures et demie. Midi and minuit are both masculine, so they take demi with no e: il est midi et demi, il est minuit et demi.
This is one of the few places in French time-telling where you have to actually think about gender agreement. Most learners get this wrong on the first encounter. The mnemonic: midi and minuit start with M; M for masculine; M for no-e demi. Heure starts with H but think of it as written feminine; e for demi-with-e.
Demi-heure with a hyphen has its own gender rule (it is invariable when it precedes the noun it modifies: une demi-heure = half an hour). That is a different construction from the time-telling et demie form, which is a postpositive adjective and does agree.
Useful Time-Related Phrases
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Quelle heure est-il? | What time is it? (formal) |
| Il est quelle heure? | What time is it? (everyday) |
| Vous avez l'heure? | Do you have the time? (polite request) |
| À quelle heure? | At what time? |
| À huit heures précises | At exactly 8 o'clock |
| Vers dix heures | Around 10 o'clock |
| Dans une heure | In one hour |
| Il y a deux heures | Two hours ago |
| Une demi-heure | Half an hour |
| Trois quarts d'heure | Three quarters of an hour (45 min) |
| Tôt le matin | Early in the morning |
| Tard le soir | Late in the evening |
Common Mistakes English Speakers Make
Saying "il est dix heure" without the s. Heures takes the plural-s for any hour other than one. Il est dix heures, il est cinq heures, il est huit heures. Only il est une heure is singular.
Using AM and PM directly. There is no French AM/PM. Use du matin, de l’après-midi, du soir in 12-hour speech, or switch to 24-hour form for clarity. Writing 8 AM in a French text is a transparent anglicism.
Forgetting et demi gender agreement. Midi et demie and minuit et demie with the e are both wrong. They are masculine, so it is midi et demi, minuit et demi. Only heure takes the e (because heure is feminine).
Using the colon in formal text. The h-form (10h15) is the standard for formal French writing, particularly for transport timetables, official schedules, and editorial style. The colon (10:15) is acceptable in digital displays and modern editorial style but the h-form is what you would see in Le Monde or in an SNCF timetable.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you tell time in French?
Use "il est" plus the hour plus "heures" (or "heure" if singular: il est une heure). For half past, add "et demie" (il est dix heures et demie = 10:30). For quarter past, "et quart" (il est dix heures et quart = 10:15). For quarter to, "moins le quart" (il est onze heures moins le quart = 10:45). For specific minutes, just give the number: il est dix heures vingt-cinq.
Why does French use the 24-hour clock?
France formally adopted the 24-hour system in 1912 for railway timetables and broadcast schedules, and it has been the official standard ever since for transport, government, broadcasting, military, and most professional contexts. The 12-hour system with du matin (morning), de l'après-midi (afternoon), du soir (evening) is still common in informal speech but uncommon in writing.
How do you write a time in French?
With the letter "h" between hours and minutes, no zero-padding required: 10h, 10h15, 10h30, 14h05. The colon (10:15) is now common in digital displays and modern editorial style but the "h" form is still standard for formal text, official timetables, and the SNCF railway notation. For 24-hour times: 14h00 (2pm), 18h30 (6:30pm), 23h45 (11:45pm).
Is "midi" 12 noon or midnight?
Midi is noon (12:00). Midnight is "minuit" (or "minuit" / "0h" in 24-hour). They are the only two single-word names for clock positions; all other hours use a number plus "heures" or "heure". Note: midi and minuit do not take the article in time expressions (il est midi, NOT il est le midi).
How do you say AM and PM in French?
French does not have direct equivalents to AM and PM. The 24-hour form removes ambiguity (8h00 = morning, 20h00 = evening). For 12-hour speech, use "du matin" (morning, 5am-11am), "de l'après-midi" (afternoon, 12pm-6pm), "du soir" (evening, 6pm-midnight), and "du matin" again for late-night/early-morning hours (1am-4am). Example: huit heures du matin (8 AM), huit heures du soir (8 PM).
How do you say "what time is it" in French?
Quelle heure est-il? (formal) or Il est quelle heure? (everyday speech). Both are correct; the inverted form is slightly more formal. Less common but also acceptable: Vous avez l'heure, s'il vous plaît? (literally "do you have the time, please?"), used as a polite request to a stranger.
What is the difference between "et demie" and "et demi"?
Both mean "half past" but they agree differently. "Et demie" agrees with "heure" (feminine), so dix heures et demie (10:30) takes the e. "Et demi" with no e agrees with "midi" or "minuit" (both masculine), so midi et demi (12:30 noon), minuit et demi (12:30 am). The rule: demi agrees in gender with the time noun it follows.