Grade 9French

Le Temps

Telling time formally; daily routines; expressing duration.

📖 5 min read · 3 worked examples · 4 practice questions

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The lesson

We'll explore why knowing the time is so useful and what you'll be able to do by the end of this session. First, let's look at the importance of telling time in everyday life. Whether you hear the school bell, plan a market trip, or organize farm chores, knowing the exact hour helps us stay on schedule. Our learning objectives today are threefold: you will learn to read formal time (lire l'heure formelle), describe daily routines (décrire les activités quotidiennes), and express duration (exprimer la durée) in French. Finally, we'll connect this to Kenyan contexts – think of the school bell ringing at 08:00, the market opening at 06:00, and the afternoon tea break at 14:00. These familiar moments will make our French practice feel immediate and relevant. Let's get started and see how mastering time in French can smooth your daily routine.

Class, let's explore how to tell time in French using formal expressions. First, the basic structure: "Il est … heures" means "It is … o'clock." For example, "Il est trois heures" is "It is three o'clock." Next, for half‑hours we add "et demie": "Il est … heures et demie" translates to "It is … half past." So "Il est cinq heures et demie" means "It is half past five." Look at this table. It lists the numbers one through twelve in French, both the written form and the English meaning, so you can match any hour to its French phrase. Finally, a real‑life Kenyan example: school starts at 07:30, so we say "Il est sept heures et demie." Notice how we use the half‑hour form. Remember these two patterns, and you'll be able to tell the time clearly in French.

First, "se réveiller" means "to wake up" – the moment you open your eyes in the morning. Next, "aller à l'école" translates to "to go to school" – the journey from home to the classroom. "Déjeuner" means "to have lunch" – the midday meal that fuels us for the rest of the day. "Faire les devoirs" is "to do homework" – the study time after school. Finally, "se coucher" means "to go to bed" – ending the day with rest. A useful pattern is "Je ... à ..." – for example, "Je me réveille à 7 heures" (I wake up at 7 o'clock). In Kenya, you might say: "Je mange le déjeuner à midi" (I eat lunch at noon). Take a look at the table: each verb is paired with an example sentence and a time reference. Use it to build your own daily schedule in French.

Everyone, let's explore how to talk about the length of time something lasts in French. This is very useful for everyday conversations, especially when we describe our daily activities here in Kenya. First, we use pendant followed by a time unit. For example, pendant deux heures means "for two hours." Imagine saying, "Je travaille pendant trois heures" – "I work for three hours," perhaps while you're tending the farm. Another common structure is la durée de plus the activity. La durée de mon cours est une heure translates to "The duration of my class is one hour." This lets you state how long something lasts directly. Remember the numbers: for hours we use 1‑12, and for minutes we use 15, 30, 45, or 60. You could say pendant quinze minutes ("for fifteen minutes") when you're cooking ugali. Does anyone have an example from their own routine they'd like to try saying in French? Let's hear a few!

Worked examples

Worked Example 1

We'll see how a digital time is turned into the French spoken form. First, the digital clock shows 09:00. In French we say Il est neuf heures (It is nine o'clock). Notice we omit the minutes because they are zero. Next, 12:45. In formal contexts, French uses the 24‑hour clock, so we say Il est treize heures quarante‑cinq (It is thirteen hours forty‑five). A real‑world situation: a Kenyan bus schedule shows 15:30. We would express that as Il est quinze heures trente (It is fifteen hours thirty). A quick pronunciation tip: for half‑past the hour we say demi (half), and for quarter past we say et quart (and a quarter). For example, 08:15 becomes Il est huit heures et quart. Any questions so far? Feel free to raise your hand or type them in the chat.

– My Morning Routine

Class, let's look at our worked example titled Worked Example 2 – My Morning Routine. We'll build a short paragraph describing a typical morning using time expressions in French. First, at 7h00, we say « Je me réveille à sept heures. » (I wake up at seven o'clock). Notice the reflexive verb se réveiller and the simple time expression. Next, at 7h30, we add « Je prends mon petit‑déjeuner à sept heures et demie. » (I have my breakfast at seven thirty). Here prendre means 'to have/eat', and et demie means 'and a half'. Then, at 8h00, we say « Je vais à l'école à huit heures. » (I go to school at eight o'clock). The verb aller shows movement, and the time expression is straightforward. To link these sentences smoothly, we can use puis (then) or ensuite (next). For example: Je me réveille à sept heures, puis je prends mon petit‑déjeuner à sept heures et demie, ensuite je vais à l'école à huit heures.

– Afternoon Study

Worked Example 3 – Afternoon Study. First, the start time: 14h00, which we say in French, "Je commence mes devoirs à quatorze heures" (I start my homework at fourteen o'clock). Next, the end time: 15h30, expressed as "Je finis à quinze heures trente" (I finish at fifteen thirty). The duration is one hour and a half, so we say, "Je travaille pendant une heure et demie" (I work for one hour and a half). Notice how "et demie" replaces "and thirty minutes." Any questions about converting minutes to "et demie" or "et quart"? If not, great – you've mastered describing an afternoon study session in French!

Practice questions

For the first question, think about the 24‑hour clock versus the 12‑hour colloquial way. 14:30 is "deux heures et demie" in everyday speech, not "trois heures" or the literal "quatorze heures trente".
The second question asks you to spot all correct ways to say 08:15. In French we often say "Il est huit heures et quart" or "Il est huit heures quinze".
For the first question, look at each sentence and see which one pairs the activity "watch TV" with the appropriate time of day. "I watch TV in the evening" translates to **Je regarde la télévision le soir**.
The second question asks you to fill in the blank with the correct form of **pendant**. To say "I studied French for two hours yesterday," you would write **J'ai étudié le français pendant deux heures hier**.

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Le Temps

📖 The lesson

✏️ Worked examples