Free Telling Time in French Quiz
This telling time in French quiz asks for the time four ways. You read a clock face or a digital time and type it in words, or you read a time in words and pick the matching clock or type the digits. Every correct form counts, from trois heures moins le quart to deux heures quarante-cinq. After a miss, a one-line reason gives the rule. It's free and needs no account.
Practice telling time in French
How the French time quiz works
Questions come in four kinds:
- A clock face: type the time in words.
- A digital time (2:45, 2:45 p.m. or 14:45): type it in words.
- A time in words: pick the matching clock of four.
- A time in words: type the digits.
You set the minutes (o'clock, half hours, quarter hours, every five minutes or any minute), the 12-hour or 24-hour clock and the part of the day, as on the telling time in French worksheets. Your score runs as you go. Stop shows it with the times you missed, and Practice my mistakes runs those again.
Buttons on the screen type à, â, é, è, ê and ç, so you don't need a French keyboard. The quiz has no audio, and it runs in your browser.
Which answers the quiz accepts
Every correct form counts. For 2:45 that's trois heures moins le quart, trois heures moins quart or deux heures quarante-cinq, and for 2:15 it's deux heures et quart or deux heures quinze. The minutes usually agree with minute, which is feminine, so 2:21 is deux heures vingt et une. Vingt et un is also found, and the quiz takes both, as well as the 1990 hyphenated spelling, vingt-et-une.
The rules are the same as on the worksheets. Heure is feminine (il est une heure), and after the half hour French subtracts from the next hour with moins. Midi and minuit take no heures, as in midi dix, and because they're masculine, 12:30 is midi et demi without an e. On the 24-hour clock, Le Robert keeps quart and demie for the hours 1 to 11, midi and minuit. Quinze heures et demie is wrong, and the quiz points it out. The correct form is quinze heures trente.
Accents count. A missing one is a miss, but the note names the word to fix, as in “Check the accents: zéro.” Slips such as deux heure and midi et demie get their own note: “From two on, heures takes an s.” and “Midi is masculine: midi et demi.” After any other miss, a one-line reason gives the rule. If your answer is a different real time, the note starts with the time you wrote, as in “That reads as 3:45.”
Practice tips
Start on the 12-hour clock with o'clock and half hours, then add quarter hours and the part of the day. If you're heading to France, move to the 24-hour clock early, since timetables and appointments there use it. Typing the digits for a time in words is a quick test of moins: trois heures moins vingt is 2:40, not 3:20. After Stop, run Practice my mistakes before you close the tab.
The French numbers to words converter writes out any number that trips you up. For paper practice, the telling time in French worksheets print the same options with an answer key on its own page.
Frequently asked questions
Is the telling time in French quiz free?
Yes. The quiz is free, needs no account and runs in your browser. What you type is never sent anywhere.
What kinds of questions are in the French time quiz?
There are four. You read a clock face and type the time in words, read a digital time such as 2:45, 2:45 p.m. or 14:45 and type it in words, read a time in words and pick the matching clock of four, or read a time in words and type the digits.
Is quinze heures et demie correct?
No. Le Robert keeps quart and demie for the hours 1 to 11, midi and minuit, so 15:30 is quinze heures trente. The telling time in French quiz points this out if you write quinze heures et demie.
Is it vingt et une or vingt et un for the minutes?
Vingt et une is the usual choice, because minutes is understood and minute is feminine: deux heures vingt et une. Vingt et un is also found and isn't wrong, so the telling time in French quiz accepts both, and the 1990 spelling vingt-et-une too.
Do accents count in the French time quiz?
Yes. A missing accent counts as a miss, but the note names the word to fix, as in "Check the accents: zéro." Buttons on the screen type à, â, é, è, ê and ç, so you don't need a French keyboard.
Can I practice only the times I got wrong?
Yes. Press Stop to see your score and the times you missed, then choose Practice my mistakes.
Does the French time quiz have audio?
No. It's for reading and writing the time, in words and in digits. We count page opens, rounds started and roughly how many answers a round had, never what you type.