French Phrases: Time expressions

General time expressions

The following are useful for talking about particular times (days, months etc) in the past or future. In the section below, we'll look at the names of the days of the week in French, then on the following page, we'll also look at months and seasons in French.

aujourd'hui	oʒuʁdɥi	today
demain	dəmæ̃	tomorrow
hier	jɛʁ	yesterday
matin	matæ̃	morning
ce matin	sə matæ̃	this morning
demain matin	dəmæ̃ matæ̃	tomorrow morning
midi	midi	midday, lunchtime
à midi	a midi	at midday, at lunchtime
après-midi	apʁemidi	afternoon
aprèm (Informal)	apʁɛm	afternoon
cet après-midi	sɛt apʁemidi	this afternoon
soir	swaʁ	evening, night
ce soir	sə swaʁ	this evening, tonight
hier soir	jɛʁ swaʁ	yesterday evening, last night
demain soir	dəmæ̃ swaʁ	tomorrow evening, tomorrow night
la semaine prochaine	la smɛn pʁɔʃɛn	next week
la semaine dernière	la smɛn dɛʁnjɛʁ	last week
le mois prochain	lə mwa pʁɔʃæ̃	next month
le mois dernier	lə mwa dɛʁnje	last month
l'année prochaine	lane pʁɔʃɛn	next year
l'année dernière	lane dɛʁnjɛʁ	last year
tôt	to	early (on)
tard	taʁ	late (on)
en retard	ɑ̃ʁtaʁ	late, delayed
à l'heure	al0ʁ	on time

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Days of the week

Here are the names of the days of the week in French, plus some phrases for using them:

lundi	læ̃di	Monday
mardi	maʁdi	Tuesday
mercredi	mɛʁcʁədi	Wednesday
jeudi	ʒødi	Thursday
vendredi	vɑ̃dʁədi	Friday
samedi	samdi	Saturday
dimanche	dimɑ̃ʃ	Sunday
ce lundi	sə læ̃di	this Monday
lundi prochain	læ̃di pʁɔʃæ̃	next Monday
lundi dernier	læ̃di dɛʁnje	last Monday
le lundi	lə læ̃di	on Mondays
lundi soir	læ̃di swaʁ	on Monday evening
pas ce lundi mais celui d'après	pa sə læ̃di me səlɥi dapʁɛ	the Monday after next
lundi en huit	læ̃di ɑ̃ ɥit	"Monday week" (old-fashioned)
lundi 15	læ̃di kæ̃z	(on) Monday the 15th

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Of course, any of the days of the week can be substituted for lundi in the above expressions.

Next: months and seasons

Once you've learnt the names of the days of the week, you may also want to look at French months and seasons.

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