I.

French Words and Phrases about Frequency

la veille de the day before yesterday
These words answer the question, “how often?”

le lendemain the day after, the next day

une fois once

la semaine last week

une fois par once a week passée/dernière
semaine

la dernière the final week

Deux fois par twice a week semaine
semaine

la semaine next week

quotidien daily prochaine

tous les jours every day il y a peu de a little while ago

temps

tous les deux every other day

jours III. French Words and Phrases about Points in time /
Periods of time

hebdomadaire weekly Now for the particular moment/ period of time.

toutes les every week une seconde second

semaines

une minute minute

mensuel monthly

une heure hour

annuel yearly

un jour, une day

II. French Words and Phrases about Relative Time journée

These words answer the questions, “When did it

happen?” or “When will it happen?” une semaine week

avant-hier the day before yesterday un mois month

hier yesterday un an, une année year

aujourd’hui today une décennie decade

maintenant now un siècle century

demain tomorrow un millénaire millenium

après-demain the day after tomorrow

 le matin morning Preposition Usage Example

l’après-midi afternoon /durant duration of an pendant/durant 12

action. heures. He slept for
12 hours.
midi noon

pour refers to the Il va parler pour

le soir evening duration of a future une heure. He’s
event. going to speak for
an hour
le crépuscule dusk

French Vocabulary for Telling Time

l’aube dawn

To begin with, there are a few key French vocabulary

words related to time that you should know.
la nuit night
These are the basics and will help you throughout the
rest of this lesson.
minuit midnight

time l'heure
IV. Prepositions about Time noon midi
midnight minuit
Now for the prepositions related to time. Keep these in and a quarter et quart
mind as these little words can be quite confusing to quarter to moins le quart
some! and a half et demie
in the morning du matin
in the afternoon de l'après-midi
Preposition Usage Example in the evening du soir

The Rules for Telling Time in French

à used when à 8 heures. At 8
expressing the time o’clock. Telling time in French is just a matter of knowing
when a certain the French numbers and a few formulas and rules. It's
action will occur. different than we use in English, so here are the basics:

 The French word for "time," as in, "What time is

en used when En été. In summer. it?" is l'heure, not le temps. The latter means
expressing the "time" as in "I spent a lot of time there."
length of time,
season, month, or  In English, we often leave out "o'clock" and it's
year. perfectly fine to say "It's seven." or "I'm leaving
at three-thirty." This is not so in French. You
always have to say heure, except when
dans used when telling Nous mangerons saying midi (noon) and minuit (midnight).
the amount of time dans 10 minutes.
before an action We’ll eat in 10  In French, the hour and minute are separated by
will happen. minutes. h (for heure, as in 2h00) where in English we use
a colon (: as in 2:00).

depuis used when saying Nous parlons  French doesn't have words for "a.m." and "p.m."
the duration of an depuis une heure. You can use du matin for a.m., de l'après-
ongoing activity. We’ve been talking midi from noon until about 6 p.m., and du
for an hour. soir from 6 p.m. until midnight. However, time is
usually expressed on a 24-hour clock. That
means that 3 p.m. is normally expressed
as quinze heures (15 hours) or 15h00, but you
Pendant refers to the entire Il a dormi can also say trois heures de l'après-midi (three
hours after noon).
What Time Is It? (Quelle heure est-il?) a millennium un millénaire

When you ask what time it is, you will receive an answer
similar to this. Keep in mind that there are a few
different ways to express different times within the hour, Points in Time in French
so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with all of these.
Each day has various points in time that you might need
You can even practice this throughout your day and to describe in French.
speak the time in French whenever you look at a clock.
For instance, you might want to talk about a beautiful
It's one o'clock Il est une heure 1h00 sunset or let someone know what you're doing at night.
It's two o'clockIl est deux heures 2h00 Commit these words to memory and you'll have no
It's 3:30 Il est trois heures et demie 3h30 problem doing just that.
Il est trois heures trente
It's 4:15 Il est quatre heures et quart 4h15 sunrise le lever de soleil
Il est quatre heures quinze dawn l'aube (f) 
It's 4:45 Il est cinq heures moins le quart 4h45 morning le matin 
Il est cinq heures moins quinze afternoon l'après-midi 
noon midi
Il est quatre heures quarante-cinq   
evening le soir 
It's 5:10 Il est cinq heures dix 5h10
dusk le crépuscule, entre chien et
It's 6:50 Il est sept heures moins dix 6h50
loup
Il est six heures cinquante
sunset le coucher de soleil
It's 7 a.m. Il est sept heures du matin 7h00
night la nuit 
It's 3 p.m. Il est trois heures de l'après-midi 15h00
midnight le minuit
Il est quinze heures
It's noon Il est midi 12h00
Temporal Prepositions
It's midnight Il est minuit 0h00
As you begin to formulate sentences with your new
French time vocabulary, you will find it useful to know
these temporal prepositions. These short words are used
Asking the Time in French
to further define when something is taking place.
Conversations regarding what time it is will use
since depuis 
questions and answers similar to these. If you're
traveling in a French-speaking country, you'll find these during pendant 
very useful as you try to maintain your itinerary. at à 
in en 
in  dans 
What time is it? Quelle heure est-il ?
for pour 
Do you have the time, Est-ce que vous avez l'heure,
please? s'il vous plaît ? Relative Time in French
What time is the concert? À quelle heure est le concert
The concert is at eight ? Time is relative to other points in time. For instance,
o'clock in the evening. Le concert est à huit heures there is always a yesterday which is followed by today
du soir. and tomorrow, so you'll find this vocabulary a great
addition to your ability to explain relationships in time. 
Periods of Time in French
yesterday hier 
Now that we have the basics of telling time covered, today aujourd'hui 
expand your French vocabulary by studying the words now maintenant 
for periods of time. From seconds to millennium, this tomorrow demain 
short list of words covers the entire expanse of time. the day before yesterday avant-hier
the day after tomorrow l'après-demain
a second une seconde the day before, the eve of la veille de
a minute une minute  the day after, the next day le lendemain
an hour une heure last week la semaine passée/dernière 
a day / a whole day un jour, une journée the final week la dernière semaine
a week une semaine Notice how dernier  is in a different position in "last
a month un mois week" and "the final week." That subtle change has a
a year / a whole yearun an, une année significant impact on the meaning.
a decade une décennie next week la semaine prochaine
a century un siècle days of the week les jours de la semaine
months of the year les mois de l'année once une fois
the calendar le calendrier  once a week une fois par semaine
the four seasons les quatre saisons daily quotidien 
winter came early / late l'hiver fut précoce / tardif  every day tous les jours
  spring came early / late   le printemps fut précoce / every other day tous les deux jours
  summer came early / late tardif  weekly hebdomadaire 
  autumn came early / late   l'ete fut précoce / tardif  every week toutes les semaines
monthly mensuel
  l'automne fut précoce /
yearly annuel 
tardif 
last winter l'hiver dernier 
Adverbs of Frequency
  last spring   le printemps dernier 
  last summer   l'ete dernier  Adverbs that relate to frequency are just as important
  last autumn   l'automne dernier  and you'll find yourself using this quite often as your
next winter l'hiver prochain French studies progress.
  next spring   le printemps prochain
  next summer   l'ete prochain again encore 
  next autumn   l'automne prochain one more time encore une fois
a little while ago, in a little tout à l'heure  never, ever jamais 
while sometimes parfois 
right away tout de suite sometimes quelquefois 
within a week d'ici une semaine rarely rarement 
for, since depuis  often souvent
ago (depuis versus il y a) il y a always toujours 
on time à l'heure
in time à temps Time Itself: Le Temps
at that time à l'époque
early en avance Le temps refers broadly either to the weather or a
late en retard  duration of time, indeterminate or specific. Because it is
such a basic concept that surrounds us every day, many
Temporal Adverbs French idiomatic expressions have evolved using temps.
Here are a few common ones that you might need to
As you become even more fluent in French, consider know.
adding a few temporal adverbs to your vocabulary. Once
again, they can be used to further define when a little while ago il y a peu de temps 
something is taking place. in a little while dans un moment, dans
quelque temps
currently actuellement  at the same time en même temps
then alors  at the same time as au même temps que
after après  cooking / preparation time temps de cuisson /
today aujourd'hui préparation cuisine
previously, beforehand auparavant  a part-time job un temps partiel 
before avant  a full-time job un temps plein ou plein
soon bientô t  temps
meanwhile cependant  to work part-time être ou travailler à temps
afterwards, meanwhile ensuite  partiel 
for a long time longtemps  to work full-time être ou travailler à plein
now maintenant  temps ou à temps plein
anytime n'importe quand to work full-time travailler à temps complet
then puis  to work 30 hours per week faire un trois quarts (de)
recently récemment 
temps
late tard
time to think le temps de la réflexion
all of a sudden, suddenly tout à coup
to reduce working hours diminuer le temps de travail
in a little while, a little while tout à l'heure
to have some spare time / avoir du temps libre
ago free time
in one's spare time, in a à temps perdu
Frequency in French spare moment
in times past, in the old days au temps jadis
There will also be times when you need to speak about with the passing of time avec le temps
the frequency of an event. Whether it only happens once all the time, always tout le temps
or reoccurs on a weekly or monthly basis, this short in music, a strong temps fort
vocabulary list will help you achieve that.
beat / figuratively, a high
point or a highlight
in sports, a time-out / temps mort 
figuratively, a lull or a slack
period