Module 2 of the free French course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 28 of 30: Il est trois heures — it is three o'clock. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 28.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| l'heurefeminine — the article elides to l' | the hour / the time | luhr |
| il est trois heures | it is three o'clock | eel eh trwah ZUHR |
| il est une heure | it is one o'clock | eel eh tewn UHR |
| midi | noon | mee-DEE |
| minuit | midnight | mee-NWEE |
| il est midi | it is noon | eel eh mee-DEE |
| la montre | the watch | lah MOH(n)TR |
| l'horlogefeminine — the article elides to l' | the clock | lor-LUZH |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
Il est trois heures — it is three o'clock. Il est une heure keeps une (l'heure is feminine). Noon and midnight have names: midi and minuit.
The hour question, Quelle heure est-il?, is quel from Lesson 10 doing its daily job.
il est une heure keeps une, because l'heure is feminine — never il est un heure. And midi and minuit take no heures at all.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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