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How to Say ‘It is quarter to five.’ in French

Il est cinq heures moins le quart.

eel eh sank uhr mwan luh kar

[eel eh sank uhr mwan luh kar]

💬 Usage Tip: French counts back from the coming hour. 'Quarter to five' is literally five hours minus the quarter.

Phrase Breakdown

Il est cinq heures

eel eh sank uhr

It is five o'clock

Pronounce the 'q' of 'cinq' and link it: 'san-keur'.

Example

Il est cinq heures du matin.

It is five in the morning.

Words in this phrase

[eel]

Part of the expression Il y a, meaning 'there is/there are'.

Example

Il y a souvent des bouchons le matin.

There are often traffic jams in the morning.

est

[eh]

Third person singular present of be.

Example

C'est important.

It is important.

cinq

[sank]

Five

The number 5.

Example

Il y a cinq gardes à cet endroit.

There are five guards at that location.

heures

[uhr]

o'clock / hours

Used after a number to tell the time in French.

Example

Dans « Pour 20 heures. », « heures » indique qu'on parle de l'heure.

In “Pour 20 heures.”, “heures” shows that we are talking about time.

moins le quart.

mwan luh kar

quarter to

Subtracts 15 minutes, so the whole phrase means 4:45. Say it as 'mwan luh kar'.

Example

Il est dix heures moins le quart.

It is quarter to ten.

Words in this phrase

moins

[mwan]

minus / to

Used to tell minutes before the hour.

Example

Il est deux heures moins dix.

It is ten to two.

[luh]

the

Used as a function word to indicate a noun and to mark the noun as definite.

Example

Le chat noir.

The black cat.

quart

[kar]

quarter

A fourth part; with 'd'heure' it means fifteen minutes.

Example

Il est trois heures et quart.

It's a quarter past three.

Guides for French learners

Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.Hello in French: Greetings, Good Evening and How to Answer "How Are You?"How to say hello in French, when to switch to good evening, how to ask how are you and what to answer, with tu vs vous and native audio.

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