 le père: father

 la mère: mother
 les parents : parents/relatives
 le frère : brother
 la soeur : sister
 le bébé : baby
 les enfants : children
 le grand-père : grandfather
 la grand-mère: grandmother
 les grands-parents: grand parents
 l'oncle: uncle
 la tante: aunt
 le cousin : cousin (male)
 la cousine (female)
 la nièce : niece
 le neveu : nephew
 le fils : son
 la fille : daughter
 le petit-fils : grandson
 la petite-fille : grand daughter
 les petits-enfants: grandchildren
 l'arrière-grand-mère: great grandmother
 l'arrière-grand-père: great grandfather
 les arrières-grands-parents: great grandparents

English pronouns
Pronoms

première personne du singulier je

deuxième personne du singulier tu

troisième personne du singulier il / elle / on

première personne du pluriel nous

deuxième personne du pluriel vous

troisième personne du pluriel ils / elles

Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine

mine le mien la mienne les miens les

miennes

yours (tu) le tien la tienne les tiens les

tiennes

his, hers, le sien la sienne les siens les

its siennes

ours le nôtre la nôtre les nôtres les

nôtres

yours le vôtre la vôtre les vôtres les

(vous) vôtres

theirs le leur la leur les leurs les leurs

+ masculine + feminine +p
My
mon ma me

Your
+ masculine + feminine +p
(1 person
ton ta tes
informal)

His, her, + masculine + feminine +p

its son sa ses

+ masculine + feminine +p
Our
notre notre no
 Your
+ masculine + feminine +p
(1 formal
votre votre vo
or plural)

+ masculine + feminine +p
Their
leur leur leu

Feminine Noun Endings

 -aie, -oue, -eue, -ion, -te, – ée, -ie, -ue
 -asse, -ace, -esse, -ece, -aisse, -isse/-ice, -ousse, -ance, -anse, -ence, -
once
 -enne, -onne, -une, -ine, -aine, -eine, -erne
 -ande, -ende, -onde, -ade, -ude, -arde, -orde
 -euse, -ouse, -ase, -aise, -ese, -oise, -ise, -yse, -ose, -use
 -ache, -iche, -eche, -oche, -uche, -ouche, -anche
 -ave, -eve, -ive
 -iere, -ure, -eure
 -ette, -ete, – ête, -atte, -otte, -oute, -orte, -ante, -ente, -inte, -onte
 -alle, -elle, -ille, -olle
 -aille, -eille, -ouille
 -appe, -ampe, -ombe
 -igue

Masculine Noun Endings

 -an, -and, -ant, -ent, -in, -int, -om, -ond, -ont, -on (but not after s/c¸)
 -eau, -au, -aud, -aut, -o, -os, -ot
 -ai, -ais, -ait, -es, -et
 -ou, -out, -out, -oux
 -i, -il, -it, -is, -y
 -at, -as, -ois, -oit
 • -u, -us, -ut, -eu
 -er, -é after C (C=t)
 -age, -ege, – ème, -ome, -aume, -isme
 -as, -is, -os, -us, -ex
 -it, -est
 -al, -el, -il, -ol, -eul, -all
 -if, -ef
 -ac, -ic, -oc, -uc
 -am, -um, -en
 -air, -er, -erf, -ert, -ar, -arc, -ars, -art, -our, -ours, -or, -ord, -ors, -ort, -ir, -oir,
-eur
(if animate)
 -ail, -eil, -euil, -ueil
 -ing

Where to place the adjective in French

 Usually the adjective comes after the noun it is describing.

Example:

le lac gelé
 Colours also come after the noun.

Example:

le tableau noir
 Short, often-used adjectives generally come before the noun (beau, bon, bref, grand,
gros, faux, haut, jeune, joli, mauvais, meilleur, nouveau, petit, vieux).

Example:

la jolie fleur
 If a noun is accompanied by two or more adjectives, they are placed after the noun if
they are connected by a conjunction such as mais, donc, or, car, et, ou, ni … ni etc.

Example:

Elle avait un visage beau mais sévère.

 If they are not connected, they frame the noun.

Example:

Elle portait une grande jupe bleue.

 Some adjectives can come either before or after the noun, but their placement
changes their meaning (see the table below).

Examples:

un homme grand

un grand homme
Adjectives that change their meaning depending on their position
Meaning Before a Meaning After a
Adjective Examples
Noun Noun

 mon ancienne
ancien old maison
former
 une maison
ancienne

brave respectable courageous, brave  un brave homme

 un homme brave

certain certain (particular) certain (sure)  un certain âge

 j’en suis certain

cher dear expensive  cher ami

 un livre cher
 une curieuse
curieux curious (odd) curious (interested) histoire
 un homme curieux
 la dernière
dernier last (of all) last (most recent) semaine
 la semaine
dernière
 une drôle
drôle strange amusing, funny d’histoire
 une histoire drôle
grand (only  un grand homme
great tall
with homme)  un homme grand

poor (without  le pauvre homme

pauvre poor (pitiful)
money)  un homme pauvre

next (when it happens  la prochaine fois

prochain next (soon, coming)  la semaine
again)
prochaine
 ma propre
propre own clean chambre
 ma chambre
propre

pur simple, nothing but pure, fresh  une pure formalité

 l’air pur

sacré damn good/ awesome holy  un sacré livre

 un livre sacré

sale disgusting dirty  une sale histoire

 une chambre sale

seul only alone  la seule fois

 il est seul
 Meaning Before a Meaning After a
Adjective Examples
Noun Noun

- modest, humble
 une simple chaise
simple just, single - simple,  des gens simples
uncomplicated  un poème simple

 C’est un vrai
vrai real, actual true problème.
 C’est une histoire
vraie.

How to ask the time in French

Let’s start with the casual way of asking the time that works in most situations.
You can use this mode to communicate with friends, family, or someone that
you already know.

Il est quelle heure ? - What time is it? Est-ce que tu as l’heure ? - Do you know
the time?

If you want to be more polite and respectful to the other person, or if you’re
speaking with a stranger, then you can use these more formal phrases:

Est-ce que vous avez l’heure, s’il vous plaît ? — Do you have the time,
please? Auriez-vous l’heure, s’il vous plaît ? - Would you please have the
time? Quelle heure est-il, s'il vous plait? — What is the time, please?

And if you’re just casually asking a close friend for time, you can ask them

T’as l’heure ? - What’s the time?

You’ll be able to understand the time for sure if they show you on their watch,
but if they read it out, you’ll need more vocab. Let's go the extra mile and learn
how to tell the time.

How to tell the time in French

In French, time is based on the 24-hour clock, whereas in English, the 12-hour
clock is used more frequently. The simplest and the most common way to tell
the time in French is "il est" + Time (hours + minutes).

We measure time mainly with seconds, minutes, and hours:

Une heure/ les heures - hour/ hours Une minute/ les minutes - minute /
minutes Une seconde/ les secondes - second / seconds
Let’s start with the hours in French (24-hour clock)

 It’s one o’clock. – Il est une heure.

 It’s two o'clock. – Il est deux heures.
 It’s three o’clock. – Il est trois heures.
 It’s four o’clock.– Il est quatre heures.
 It’s five o’clock. – Il est cinq heures.
 It’s six o’clock. – Il est six heures.
 It’s seven o’clock. – Il est sept heures.
 It’s eight o’clock. – Il est huit heures.
 It’s nine o’clock. – Il est neuf heures.
 It’s ten o’clock. – Il est dix heures.
 It’s eleven o’clock. – Il est onze heures.
 It’s twelve o’clock. – Il est douze heures/ il est midi.

Now the afternoon hours:

 It’s one o’clock. – Il est treize heures.

 It’s two o'clock. – Il est quatorze heures.
 It’s three o’clock. – Il est quinze heures.
 It’s four o’clock.– Il est seize heures.
 It’s five o’clock. – Il est dix-sept heures.
 It’s six o’clock. – Il est dix-huit heures.
 It’s seven o’clock. – Il est dix-neuf heures.
 It’s eight o’clock. – Il est vingt heures.
 It’s nine o’clock. – Il est vingt et une heures.
 It’s ten o’clock. – Il est vingt-deux heures.
 It’s eleven o’clock. – Il est vingt-trois heures.
 It’s twelve o’clock. – Il est minuit.

Now, to add the minutes (24-hour clock)

It is very easy to add in the minutes to the time, just mention the number of
minutes after the hour.

For example:

 Il est 2 heures et cinquante-cinq minutes - It’s 2:55am

 Il est dix-sept heures et quinze minutes - it’s 5:15pm
 Il est neuf heures trente means it’s 9:30am
The time in French (12-hour clock)
When discussing time in French with the 12-hour clock, it’s similar to how
you’d use the 24-hour clock, but you have to indicate clearly if you are
referring to before noon or afternoon. In English, we’d use am or pm as
indicators, but French uses this much less.

Here is some vocabulary that’ll help you indicate time of the day:

 In the morning - du matin

 In the afternoon - de l’après-midi
 In the evening - du soir
 Noon (12pm) - midi
 Midnight (12pm) - minuit.

The fractions of time

There are ways to express time as fractions in French, such as saying, “It’s
half past five.” Always remember to only use this with the 12-hour clock.

For 15 minutes past the hour — et quart E.g: Il est deux heures et quart – It’s a
quarter past 2 (2:15pm)

For 30 minutes past the hour — et demie E.g: Il est 5 heures et demie – It’s half
past five (5:30am)

For 15 minutes before the hour — moins le quart E.g: Il est une heure moins le
quart – It is a quarter until 1 (12:45am)

Some bonus tips to help you learn the time in French

 Using the 12-hour or 24-hour clock is entirely optional. However, the 24-
hour clock is more straightforward and more commonly used across
France and other European countries.
 Fractions of time are only used with the 12-hour clock format.
 Practice listening to the pronunciation of deux heures and douze
heures. These are extremely similar, so you don’t want to confuse the
two.
 “Time” has different translations in French depending upon the context:

Time = hours of the day is - l’heure.

Time = duration is - le temps.

E.g: Depuis combien de temps apprenez-vous le français? — How long have

you been studying French?

Time = frequency, i.e., the number of times - la fois

E.g: Combien de fois avez-vous visité la France ? — How many times have you
visited France?

 To remember the date and time in French, you can set your phone language to
French.