Lower Beginner Season 1 S1 #4 - When Should we Meet in France?
12:29 Share

Hi everyone, I'm Greg. When should we meet in France? Bonjour tout le monde, this is Maëlys. In this lesson, we will learn how to tell time and how to count up to 20. Jacques and Mireille are continuing their conversation about going out for dinner. And they are trying to agree on a time. They are using informal French. Let's listen to the conversation. Tu préfères 18, 19 ou 20 heures ?

Let's hear the conversation one time slowly.

Tu préfères 18, 19 ou 20 heures ? Euh, je pense que je préfère 19 heures. 18 heures, c'est trop tôt. Et 20 heures, c'est trop tard. Oui, c'est vrai. Tu préfères 19 heures pile ou bien 19 heures 15, 19 heures 30 ou 19 heures 45 ? 7 heures et quart ?

Ou 8 heures moins le quart. 7 heures et demi. Parfait. À ce soir. 19 heures 30. Now, let's hear it with the English translation. Tu préfères 18, 19 ou 20 heures? Do you prefer 6, 7 or 8 o'clock? Je pense que je préfère 19 heures. 18 heures, c'est trop tôt. Et 20 heures, c'est trop tard. Hmm. I think I prefer 7 o'clock.

Six o'clock is too early and eight is too late. Oui, c'est vrai. Tu préfères dix-neuf heures pile ou bien dix-neuf heures quinze, dix-neuf heures trente ou dix-neuf heures quarante-cinq? Yes, that's true. Do you prefer seven sharp or seven fifteen, seven thirty or seven forty-five? Sept heures et quart ou huit heures moins le quart? Sept heures et demi? A quarter past seven or a quarter to eight. Half past seven? Parfait.

À ce soir, 19h30. Perfect. See you tonight at 7.30. Post-conversation banter. In French-speaking countries, instead of adding AM or PM after the time, we usually use the 24-hour system. It doesn't have the military connotation that it has in English.

It's almost always used when an official time is publicly announced, such as for a television show or any public event, especially in writing. It's also common for clocks or electronic devices to show the time using this system. But in informal speech, we sometimes just use the 12-hour system when it's clear whether we're talking about a.m. or p.m.

This also allows us to use the informal expressions like et demi, half-past, and moins le quart, a quarter to. If you plan on visiting a francophone country, make sure you're familiar with the 24-hour system. But now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is heure, hour, o'clock. Heure, heure.

Next is... Préférer. To prefer. Préférer. Préférer. Next is... Penser. To think. Penser. Penser. Next is... Que. That. Que. Que. Next is... Trop. Too much, too many. Trop. Trop. Next is... Tout. Early. Tout. Tout. Next is...

Late, in the day. Next is... True. Next is... Sharp. Last is... Perfect. Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.

Let's start by looking at the word trop, which means too much or too many when used after a verb. For example, je mange trop, I eat too much. When it's used before an adjective or an adverb, it means too. Il est trop tôt, meaning it's too early. It doesn't mean too in the sense of as well, only in the sense of excessively. Let's now look at tôt, meaning early.

and tard, meaning late. They only mean early or late in the day, not ahead or behind schedule. You'd use them to say that it's too early for supper or too late to go out, but not when someone arrives early or late. For instance, 18h, c'est trop tôt. Which means 6 o'clock is too early. Et 20h, c'est trop tard. Means an 8 o'clock is too late. Let's now look at parfait, meaning perfect.

It's also the name of a famous dessert. We don't pronounce the final T, but in the feminine, an E is added, making the silent T pronounced. Here are some example sentences. Les biscuits sont parfaits. The cookies are perfect. J'aime la cuisine, elle est parfaite. I love the kitchen, it's perfect. Let's now turn to the verb préférer, meaning to prefer.

It's a regular verb, but there's a small irregularity in the spelling of the second A. It changes to A when it's in the last syllab of the word. Listen to the pronunciation and check the lesson notes to make sure you learn the right spelling. Je préfère. I prefer. Tu préfères. You prefer. Il préfère. He, she, it prefers. Nous préférons. We prefer. Vous préférez.

You all prefer. Ils préfèrent. They prefer. Great! Now let's move on to the grammar. The focus of this lesson is telling time. We will also learn how to count to 20. The French equivalent of o'clock is heure, which also means hours. So, 7 heures is either 7 o'clock or 7 hours. You can also add pile to mean sharp.

Deux heures pile means two o'clock sharp. To add minutes, simply add the number after. To say three ten, just say trois heures dix. You can also say trois heures et dix minutes. When giving the time, always use the preposition a before the time. A douze heures means at twelve o'clock.

To indicate that the time is a number of minutes before the hour, we use moins, which means less or minus. Deux heures moins dix is ten to two. The word for quarter is quart. Dix heures moins le quart. A quarter to ten. Neuf heures et quart. A quarter past nine. For half, we say demi. À huit heures et demi. At half past eight. À onze heures moins le quart.

At a quarter to eleven. Note that you can't use car and demi with the 24-hour system, so only up to twelve o'clock. Lastly, minuit and midi mean midnight and noon. You can use et and moins with both these words. Il est midi moins le quart. It's a quarter to twelve. À minuit et demi. At twelve thirty a.m.

Let's now look at the numbers 11 to 20. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

All numbers 11 to 16 end with Z. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 17 to 19 are compounds of 10 plus the second digit. 17, 18, 19. Okay, that should do it for this lesson.

Join us for the next lesson to find out if Jacques will be able to book a table for himself and Mireille at the right time. À bientôt. See you soon. Tu préfères 18, 19 ou 20 heures ? Je pense que je préfère 19 heures. 18 heures, c'est trop tôt. Et 20 heures, c'est trop tard. Oui, c'est vrai. Tu préfères 19 heures pile ou bien 19h15, 19h30 ou 19h45 ?

7h15 or 8h45? 7h30? Perfect. See you tonight, 19h30.