Summary French Grammar: Numbers, Dates, and Time (A Level)

French Grammar- Expressing the Date and Time in French


Expressing the Date


Saying the Day and Date


● Whilst in English the format is 'day + the + date + month', in French the
format is 'the + day + date + month'
○ Le mardi trois mai (Tuesday the 3rd of May)
● Format
○ Le + day (optional) + number + month
○ Eg. Le vingt novembre (20th November)
○ In French, ordinal numbers are not used to say the date except
for when you are referring to the first day of the month.
■ Eg. Le premier juillet, le deux juillet (1st July, 2nd July)


Days


● Vocabulary
○ Lundi (Monday)
○ Mardi (Tuesday)
○ Mercredi (Wednesday)
○ Jeudi (Thursday)
○ Vendredi (Friday)
○ Samedi (Saturday)
○ Dimanche (Sunday)
● When referring to a specific day (ie. A specific Monday), no article is
used.
○ Eg. Lundi, je commence à sept heures. On Monday, I start at 7
o'clock.
● When referring to a general or recurring day, use the definite article

, ('le'). For example, if you are referring to Mondays in general.
○ Eg. Le lundi, je suis fatigué. On Mondays, I am tired.
● Days don't require capital letters.


● The partitive article can be used to say 'in the morning', 'in the evening',
etc.
○ Eg. Six heures du matin (Six o'clock in the morning)
○ Eg. Six heures de l'après-midi (Six o'clock in the afternoon)
○ Eg. Huit heures du soir (Eight o'clock in the evening)




Expressing the Time


Donner l'heure (Giving the Time)


● Il est + number + heures + number of minutes
○ EG. Il est huit heures vingt. It is twenty minutes past eight /
eight hours and twenty.


Other Vocabulary
● Past the hour
○ Et quart
■ Quarter past-
■ One can also just say 'quinze' to mean '15 minutes
past'
○ Et demie
■ Half past
■ One can also just say 'trente' to mean 'half past'




● Before the hour