TELLING THE TIME IN FRENCH: THE IGCSE RULES THAT ACTUALLY GET MARKS
How to tell the time in French for IGCSE: the exact phrasing examiners expect, from o'clock and half past to the 24-hour clock.
Quarter to four. Write it in French and there are about three different ways to get it wrong before you've even reached the minutes.
It's never the vocabulary that trips people up here. Heure means hour, and everyone already knows that by the time they sit the exam. What actually goes wrong is the direction of moins, mixing 12-hour and 24-hour forms in the same answer, and dropping heure(s) entirely in places where French never lets you drop it. All three are fixable in about the time it takes to read through this page once.
The Formula Every French Time Expression Follows
Every time expression follows the same shape: Il est + [number] + heure(s) + [minutes, if any]. The word heure is always there. French doesn't have a silent way of saying "it's three" the way English casually drops "o'clock." So "it's three" is never just "Il est trois." It has to be "Il est trois heures."
For minutes 1 to 29 past the hour, you usually just add the number directly: Il est trois heures dix (it's ten past three), Il est huit heures vingt-cinq (it's twenty-five past eight). Two minute-counts get their own special words instead of plain numbers: quart (quarter) and demie (half). That's where et comes in.
Et and Moins: The Two Words That Decide Everything
Et means "and," and it's used in exactly two places: et quart (and a quarter, quarter past) and et demie (and a half, half past). Moins means "minus," and it's used for anything in the second half of the hour. You name the next hour and subtract the minutes still to go, so 3:50 becomes "next hour, minus ten": Il est quatre heures moins dix.
Think of the clock face as two halves. Before the half-hour mark, you're adding onto the hour just gone, using et or a plain number. After the half-hour mark, you're counting down to the hour coming up, using moins. The one exception students always forget: quarter to the hour is moins le quart, with le. Not moins quart on its own.
French Time Phrases, Clock by Clock
Clock time
French phrase
Literal breakdown
English meaning
3:00
Il est trois heures
it is three hours
It's three o'clock
3:10
Il est trois heures dix
three hours ten
It's ten past three
3:15
Il est trois heures et quart
three hours and a quarter
It's quarter past three
3:30
Il est trois heures et demie
three hours and a half
It's half past three
3:40
Il est quatre heures moins vingt
four hours minus twenty
It's twenty to four
3:45
Il est quatre heures moins le quart
four hours minus the quarter
It's quarter to four
12:00 (midday)
Il est midi
it is midday
It's twelve noon
00:00 (midnight)
Il est minuit
it is midnight
It's twelve midnight
Midi and minuit never take heures after them, and they don't take et demie either. "Half past midday" is Il est midi et demi, demi with no "e," because midi is masculine. It's one of the few genuine exceptions on this topic, so it's worth remembering on purpose rather than assuming it follows the usual pattern.
The 24-Hour Clock: Why It's Tested and How It Actually Works
Both CAIE (Cambridge IGCSE French, 0520/7156) and Edexcel International GCSE French test the 24-hour clock, because it's how timetables, tickets, and official announcements actually work in French-speaking countries. Reading comprehension and listening papers lean on it heavily for transport and travel topics specifically.
In the 24-hour clock, you drop et quart, et demie, and moins entirely, and just say the number of minutes straight after heures: Il est quatorze heures trente (it's 14:30, 2:30pm), Il est seize heures quarante-cinq (it's 16:45, 4:45pm).
This is the single biggest source of lost marks on this topic: students mix the two systems in one sentence, writing something like "il est seize heures moins le quart," which doesn't actually exist in French. If the hour is written in 24-hour numbers, the minutes are always given as a straight number, never et, demie, or moins.
Worked Example: A Train, a Departures Board, and One Common Mistake
Exam question style: "Le train pour Paris part à quelle heure?" (What time does the train for Paris leave?), with the departures board showing 18:20.
Correct 24-hour answer: "Le train pour Paris part à dix-huit heures vingt." (The train for Paris leaves at 18:20.)
Correct conversational 12-hour answer: "Le train pour Paris part à six heures vingt du soir." (The train for Paris leaves at twenty past six in the evening.)
Common student error: "Le train part à dix-huit heures et vingt," adding et where it isn't needed, because the student is translating the English "and" instead of applying the French rule that 24-hour minutes never take et.
The Marks That Actually Get Lost Here
Three repeat offenders show up on real scripts. Dropping heure(s) after the number ("il est trois" instead of "il est trois heures"). Writing moins quart instead of moins le quart. And switching between 12-hour and 24-hour conventions mid-answer in speaking and writing tasks, which examiners mark as an accuracy error even when the time itself is perfectly understood.
In listening papers, the trap is usually a distractor time that's one word away from correct, moins dix versus et dix being the classic pair. Train your ear to catch et and moins specifically, not just the numbers sitting around them.
For more on how time expressions link into the wider IGCSE French vocabulary set, days, months, and other time markers like aujourd'hui and la semaine prochaine, see our companion guide to time and date vocabulary.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you ask "what time is it?" in French? You ask "Quelle heure est-il ?" (literally "what hour is it?"). The reply always starts with "Il est," never "C'est." That swap is one of the most common accuracy slips in IGCSE speaking exams.
What is the difference between "et demie" and "demi" in French time expressions? "Et demie" is used after a feminine noun like heure(s), as in Il est trois heures et demie. After midi and minuit, which are masculine, you drop the "e": Il est midi et demi.
Do you use "et quart" and "moins le quart" the same way? No. "Et quart" adds fifteen minutes onto the hour just passed (3:15 = trois heures et quart), while "moins le quart" subtracts fifteen minutes from the hour coming up (3:45 = quatre heures moins le quart). The direction is opposite even though both phrases mean "quarter."
Does the 24-hour clock use "et" and "moins" in French? No. In the 24-hour clock you only ever add a straight number of minutes after heures, as in Il est vingt heures quinze (20:15). Et, demie, and moins belong to the conversational 12-hour system only.
Why do CAIE and Edexcel IGCSE French exams test both 12-hour and 24-hour time? Because real French-language materials, train timetables, TV schedules, shop opening hours, formal announcements, use the 24-hour clock, while everyday spoken French uses the 12-hour conversational forms with et and moins. Both boards test listening, reading, and speaking, so both systems turn up across the paper.
Practising Until the Clock Face Stops Slowing You Down
Set a timer for two minutes and write out ten random clock times in French, mixing 12-hour and 24-hour forms on purpose. Then check each one specifically for the three repeat offenders: a missing heure(s), a moins quart that should be moins le quart, and any et or moins that snuck into a 24-hour answer where it doesn't belong.
If you've written a set of answers like that and want a second check on whether your et/moins direction is actually right, the AI Tutor can review them against the same accuracy criteria examiners use.