Mission: read the opening hours and plan your swim
Days, months, dates and telling the time. Read an agenda, a timetable and opening hours, and say when things happen.
FrenchA1 · Everyday lifeAbout 6 min: 2 reading, 4 practiceUpdated
- Say the days and months (no capital letters)
- Say a date with le + number, and le premier for the 1st
- Tell the time with heures, et quart, et demie and moins le quart
- Read the 24-hour clock used in timetables
Everyday life: lesson 2 of 5
- A1 · Numbers and prices
- Mission: understand a price and a phone number 5 min
- A1 · Everyday life
- Mission: read the opening hours and plan your swim 6 min
- Mission: find out about a new club member 4 min
- Mission: make weekend plans with your neighbour 6 min
- Mission: find the tourist office 5 min
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Level Level A1 (around the DELF A1 exam). Real French: reading opening hours and fixing a time to meet.
What it is
Your mission: your neighbour Hugo suggests, « On va à la piscine samedi ? ». Read the notice at the pool, tell him when it is open on Saturday, and agree a time to meet him.
Days (all masculine, no capital letter): lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche.
Months (no capital letter either): janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre.
Dates: le + number + month: le 14 juillet (le quatorze juillet). The 1st is le premier: le 1er mai. Every other day uses the plain number: le 2 mai (le deux mai).
Time: Il est + number + heure(s):
| Time | French |
|---|---|
| 3:00 | il est trois heures |
| 3:15 | trois heures et quart |
| 3:30 | trois heures et demie |
| 3:45 | quatre heures moins le quart |
| 3:10 | trois heures dix |
| 12:00 | midi (noon), minuit (midnight) |
Timetables and opening hours use the 24-hour clock: 14 h 30 is quatorze heures trente (2.30 p.m.). Here you don't use et quart or et demie: just the minutes.
To say when: à + time (à huit heures), and the day with no word in front (lundi, on Monday). Le lundi means "on Mondays", every week.
Quick check
Tap an answer to check it.
How do you say 1 May?
- The 1st is special
- mai is masculine: premier
Show answer
le premier mai. The 1st of the month is le premier (le 1er).
Why it matters
Daily life is full of opening hours, agendas, timetables and station announcements, and most of what you need from them is when: which day, what time, what date. Reading them quickly saves you a wasted trip.
Worked example
Hugo shows you the swimming-pool notice: Ouvert du lundi au vendredi de 12 h à 13 h 30 et de 17 h à 20 h. Samedi : 9 h – 18 h. Fermé le dimanche.
- Open Monday to Friday, 12 noon to 1.30 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. (du … au … = from … to …)
- Saturday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Closed on Sundays (le dimanche: every Sunday).
Saying it to Hugo: Le samedi, la piscine ouvre à neuf heures et ferme à dix-huit heures.
Real French: to ask a stranger the time, say Vous avez l'heure, s'il vous plaît ? In speech people say midi et demi (12:30) and trois heures et quart far more than 24-hour times, which you read on timetables.
Common mistake
Writing days and months with a capital: wrong: Lundi 3 Mai. In French they are lower case: lundi 3 mai (a capital only at the start of a sentence).
A second trap: moins le quart counts back from the next hour. 7:45 is huit heures moins le quart, not "sept heures moins le quart" (that would be 6:45).
Quick check
Tap an answer to check it.
What time is « neuf heures moins le quart »?
- That is neuf heures et quart
- moins counts back from nine
Show answer
8:45. Nine o'clock minus a quarter: 8:45.
Key terms
- lundi … dimanche
- Monday … Sunday (no capitals)
- janvier … décembre
- January … December (no capitals)
- le premier
- the 1st (of the month)
- et quart / et demie
- quarter past / half past
- moins le quart
- quarter to (the next hour)
- midi / minuit
- noon / midnight
- du … au …
- from … to …
- le lundi
- on Mondays (every week)
Practise the key terms
Tap a card to turn it over. 8 cards.
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| lundi … dimanche | Monday … Sunday (no capitals) |
| janvier … décembre | January … December (no capitals) |
| le premier | the 1st (of the month) |
| et quart / et demie | quarter past / half past |
| moins le quart | quarter to (the next hour) |
| midi / minuit | noon / midnight |
| du … au … | from … to … |
| le lundi | on Mondays (every week) |
Practice
Recognition drill
Pick the right answer, as fast as you can.
All pairs
Tap a card to turn it over. 7 cards.
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| lundi | Monday |
| mardi | Tuesday |
| mercredi | Wednesday |
| jeudi | Thursday |
| vendredi | Friday |
| samedi | Saturday |
| dimanche | Sunday |
Quick quiz
Tap an answer to check it.
A timetable says « 18 h 45 ». What time is that?
- 18 h is 6 p.m.
- 18 h is in the evening
Show answer
6.45 p.m.. 18 h = 6 p.m.; 45 minutes past.
« Fermé le mardi » means…
- le + day means every week
- mardi is a day of the week
Show answer
closed on Tuesdays. le + day = every week on that day.
How do you say 25 December?
- Dates use plain numbers, except the 1st
- Day number first, and no capital
Show answer
le vingt-cinq décembre. le + number + month.
Build the sentence
Build "The shop opens at nine o'clock."
Show answer
Le magasin ouvre à neuf heures.. Subject, verb, à + time.
Practise speaking
Studyfern has no voice tools of its own. To practise out loud, copy this prompt into a voice-capable AI assistant and talk with it.
Mission role-play. You are Hugo, my friendly French neighbour, planning a trip to the swimming pool, at level A1. Speak slowly and clearly. Use only these words and patterns: quel jour, quelle heure est-il, il est … heure(s), et quart, et demie, moins le quart, midi, minuit, les jours lundi to dimanche, les mois janvier to décembre, le premier, numbers 0 to 60, à, du … au …, ouvert, fermé, le lundi. First tell me 6 times one by one, some in 24-hour format, and I will say them in French. Then ask me 4 questions about dates (for example my birthday, made up). After each answer, tell me what kind of mistake I made, if any, and let me try again. When I have said six times and answered four date questions, say « Mission accomplie ! » and give me one tip. Keep every reply under 2 sentences. Explain corrections in English.
Listen too. Listen to native speakers before and after: see the free listening and shadowing links.
Good to know. AI feedback on pronunciation is hit and miss, so check yourself against native recordings. Many assistants turn your speech into text first, so a vowel or liaison you got wrong may be silently “heard” as the right word. Don't share personal details: use a made-up name and town.
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In short
- Days and months: lower case.
- Dates: le + number + month; the 1st is le premier.
- Time: il est … heures; et quart, et demie, moins le quart; midi, minuit.
- Timetables: 24-hour clock with plain minutes (14 h 30).
- lundi = this Monday; le lundi = every Monday.
Mastery check
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Check yourself
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How do you say 7.30 p.m. on a timetable?
Show answer
dix-neuf heures trente (19 h 30).
How do you say "the 1st of March"?
Show answer
le premier mars.
What does « du lundi au samedi » mean?
Show answer
From Monday to Saturday.
Further reading
- RFI, Journal en français facile: listen for days, dates and times in the news bulletins.
- TV5MONDE, Apprendre le français, free A1 exercises on time and dates.
Finished? Mark it done to fill in your leaf on the French map.