Telling Time
समय बताना
French tells time with a feminine 'heure(s)' that quietly agrees in number just like any other noun — a detail that can trip up Hindi speakers, since Hindi's own time-marker बजे never changes shape no matter what the hour is.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Quelle heure est-il ? / Il est ... heure(s)
Il est une heure. (It's one o'clock.) — Il est trois heures. (It's three o'clock.)
एक बजे है। — तीन बजे हैं।
Time is always introduced with the impersonal il est ('it is'), and heure(s) — literally 'hour(s)' — pluralizes like a normal noun after 2 and up: une heure but deux heures, trois heures. Hindi's own time marker, बजे, never changes shape this way regardless of the hour (एक बजे, दो बजे, तीन बजे — बजे itself stays frozen), so remember to add the -s to heure once you pass 'one o'clock' in French, something Hindi gives you no reminder to do.
et quart, et demie, moins le quart ≈ सवा, साढ़े, पौने
trois heures et quart (3:15) — trois heures et demie (3:30) — quatre heures moins le quart (3:45)
सवा तीन (3:15) — साढ़े तीन (3:30) — पौने चार (3:45)
For the first half hour, French adds time with et: et quart ('and a quarter' = :15), et demie ('and a half' = :30). Hindi has dedicated prefixes for exactly these two ideas — सवा (+15 minutes) and साढ़े (+30 minutes) — placed before the hour number, सवा तीन and साढ़े तीन, a close match to French's logic. Past the half hour, French counts backward from the next hour with moins ('minus'): quatre heures moins le quart means 'a quarter to four'. Hindi does something similar but folds it into a single prefix, पौने, attached to the upcoming hour: पौने चार for 3:45, literally 'quarter-less four'. Both languages anchor the last quarter-hour to the next hour rather than the current one, even though the mechanics differ.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- कितने बजे हैं?kitne baje haiñ?
- English
- What time is it?
- Hindi
- एक बजा हैek bajā hai
- English
- it's one o'clock
- Hindi
- दो बजे हैंdo baje haiñ
- English
- it's two o'clock
- Hindi
- सवाsavā
- English
- quarter past
- Hindi
- साढ़ेsāṛhe
- English
- half past
- Hindi
- पौनेpauṇe
- English
- quarter to
- Hindi
- दोपहरdopahar
- English
- noon
- Hindi
- आधी रातādhī rāt
- English
- midnight
- Hindi
- सुबह केsubah ke
- English
- in the morning (a.m.)
- Hindi
- दोपहर केdopahar ke
- English
- in the afternoon (p.m.)
- Hindi
- शाम केśām ke
- English
- in the evening (p.m.)