Studyfin
✨ Sign up free
Bonjour! Let's learn how to talk about the time and the weather in French. It is super easy and fun!
To ask what time it is in French, we say: 'Quelle heure est-il?' To answer, we start with 'Il est...' followed by the hour and the word 'heure' (which means hour). For example, 'Il est trois heures' means 'It is three o'clock.'
Let's look at the clock! The hour hand moves as time passes. In French, we always add 'heures' at the end. For one o'clock, we say 'Il est une heure' because 'heure' is feminine.
Now, let's talk about the weather! In French, we say 'Quel temps fait-il?' to ask 'How is the weather?' We often start our answer with 'Il fait...' which means 'It makes' or 'It is.' For example, 'Il fait beau' means the weather is beautiful, and 'Il fait chaud' means it is hot.
What if it is raining? We say 'Il pleut.' If it is snowing, we say 'Il neige.' Notice that we do not use 'Il fait' for rain or snow. These actions have their own special verbs!
Imagine your French penpal, Lucas, sends you a message. He asks: 'Quel temps fait-il chez toi ?' (How is the weather by you?) and 'Quelle heure est-il ?' (What time is it?). You look outside and see cold snow falling. You look at your watch and see it is 8:00 AM. Write your reply in French!
- First, let's answer the weather question. Lucas asked: 'Quel temps fait-il ?'
- We know it is snowing. The French verb for 'to snow' is 'neiger.'
- We build our weather sentence: 'Il neige.' This means 'It is snowing.'
- Next, let's answer the time question. Lucas asked: 'Quelle heure est-il ?'
- We start our time sentence with 'Il est...'
- Our watch says 8:00. The French word for eight is 'huit.' We add 'heures' at the end.
- We build our time sentence: 'Il est huit heures.' (It is eight o'clock.)
- We combine both answers for our friendly reply: 'Il neige et il est huit heures !'