1. SOME NOTES ON TELLING THE TIME IN FRENCH

1.1 Asking the time

1. We use [il est...] (it is.../ it's...) to say what time it is at the time we're speaking.
2. We use [il était...] (it was...) to say what time it was at a given moment in the past.
3. We use [il sera...] (it will be...) to say what time it will be at a given moment in the future

Check the examples below:

1.3 AM vs PM

Since in English you won't normally use the 24-hour clock, you will usually add AM or PM to a time to differentiate between the morning hours and the afternoon/evening hours. --> For example 9 AM (in the morning) vs 9 PM (in the evening) OR 2 AM (in the morning) vs. 2 PM (in the afternoon)

In French, there exist three differentiators of this kind, not just two (AM/PM). See, French time can be divided into matin, après-midi et soir. You'd say, for example, "3 heures du matin" (3 AM) to distiguish it from "3 heures de l'après-midi" (3 PM). And you'd say "8 heures du soir" (8 PM) to differentiate it from "8 heures du matin" (8 AM).

Now, I know your next question would be: "Herman, at what time does du matin turns into de l'après-midi and , de l'après-midi into du soir? Here' are a few simple rules.

1. Use "du matin" for hours between 1 AM till 11:59 AM - Don't worry about 12:00 (midnight) now. I devote an entire section to it further below. 
2. Use "de l'après-midi" for hours comprised between 12:00 (midday/noon) and 6:00ish in the evening, basically, at dusk -- when the sun sets (no daylight hours).
3. Use "du soir" for hours comprised between 6:00ish in the evening until 12:00 (midnight)

2. OFFICIAL (MILITARY) TIME vs. CIVILIAN TIME

As shown above in the previous section, In French you can add du matin / de l'après-midi / du soir after the time to avoid confusion about what part of the day this time is referring to. 

We call this way of telling the time the civilian time mainly because this time uses the 12-hour cycle. But there is more to it, as you will see below.

You can also give the time in French using the 24-hour cycle, also called official time OR military time.  When you use the official time, there's no need to add du matin / de l'après-midi / du soir after the time.

2.1 Official time (or military time)

Also called military time, the official time is based on the 24-hour time cycle.

1. 
   
   • It is generally used at train stations, airports, radio stations, television broadcast. 
   • The biggest advantage in using the military/official time is that it suppresses any riskof confusion between AM or PM and vice versa.
   • In other words, use military/official time in French if you wish to give the time accurately.
   • Official/military time has been adopted conventionally between most countries as a way to indicate time in official records

Down below, you can learn how to read the official (military) time in French. Now, off to civilian time.

Civilian time is based on the 12-hour time cycle. (Duh, who would have thought?) The way you read it can be a little different from its official/military counter-part. As its appelation suggests, civilian time is, well, not used in official situations, that is, in the military, TV/Radio broadcasts, stations, etc. Instead, the main usage of civilian time happens between individuals during (mostly) informal/casual situations. It will be fairly correct to say that civilian time is more-frequently used that military time in day-to-day interactions between individuals.

3. GIVING THE TIME

3.1 Saying "O'clock" times (- -:00) in civilian time

Official/Military time for 12:00 (noon)

Official/Military time for 12:00 (midnight)

Civilian time for 12:00 (noon)

Civilian time for 12:00 (midnight)

3.3 Saying "O'clock" times (--:00) in official/military time

For convenience (i'm feeling lazy), we will only list below the military time from 13:00 (1:00 PM) until 23:00 (11:00 PM). The hours between 01:00 (1:00 AM) and 11:00 (11:00 AM) are already explained to you in the previous section [3.1]. All you need to do to obtain them is just remove "du matin"/ "de l'après-midi" and "du soir" from the civilian time for all the hours in that range. 

For example, "il est trois heures du matin" (civilian time) will be "il est trois heures" in military/official time. 

As for 12:00 (noon/midnight), please refer to section 3.2 above. 

3.4. Giving the time in between hours

1. Accuracy is what we're after when using the official/military. Consequently, expressing the minutes ranging from 01-59 is not unusual at all. For examples, saying times such as 12:48 / 1:24 / 22:17, is rather common when using the official/military time. 
2. With the civilian time, minutes are generally given in multiples of 5 after --:00. So using the three official hours given above as examples, people would generally say: 12:50 / 1:25 / 2:20.  

Now, here are some examples of times with minutes increased in increments of 5.

Note: I am skipping --:15, --:30 and --:45 of the civilian time. I will devote a special section to them below. Be sure to check it out.

Note: In civilian time, when the minutes hand is located AFTER the half past + hour, you start counting the minutes through substraction. Therefore, 09:40 will expressed as 20 minutes to (the next hour) 10 O'clock--> In french, you will say "dix heures moins vingt" (literally, 10 O'clock minus/less 20 minutes)

Note: demie  takes an E at the end because the French word "hour" is feminine and thus, half of it, "demi" need to take an E for the gender agreement to happen. Likewise, "midi et demi" (half past noon) will NOT take any final E because the word "midi" is masculine, so its half (demi) will also remain masculine.

4. A FEW TIPS ON FRENCH PRONUNCIATION

Note: When giving civilian time, there are four French numbers/hours whose pronunciations change quite considerably depending on whether or not they are followed by another word. These numbers are 2, 6, 9 and 10. I provide some examples to help you master their pronunciations. 

4.1 Pronunciation variations for some hours

5. TALKING ABOUT DAYS

5.1 The seven days of the week

Note: In English, the first letter of the names of days are always capitalized like this: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. In French, though, they must remain lower case (unless they start a sentence). 

Giving only the day: To answer the question "Quel jour sommes-nous aujourd'hui?"

Giving only the date: To answer the question "Quelle est la date aujourd'hui?"

Giving the full date

Now let's learn the French word for "winter" and see two examples of it in sentences

Now let's learn the French word for "spring" and study two examples of it in sentences

Now let's learn the French word for "summer" and study two examples of it in sentences

Now let's learn the French word for "fall/autumn" and study two examples of it in sentences

I hope you'll find this vocabulary list on French time, days and months useful. As always, you can write to me at any time. I will be happy to send you a reply as soon as possible. 

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