Daily Routines and Time

TL;DR

You'll learn essential French verbs and vocabulary to describe your daily activities. We'll cover telling time in French, which is key for scheduling your day. By the end, you'll be able to talk about what you do from morning to night.

1. The Mental Model

Think of your day as a sequence of actions, and telling time as the "when" for each action. In French, you'll pair specific verbs for activities with time expressions to paint a clear picture of your routine.

2. The Core Material

Describing your daily routine in French involves using reflexive verbs and knowing how to tell time. Reflexive verbs are common for actions you do to yourself, like "to get up" or "to wash oneself."

Reflexive Verbs for Daily Actions

Photo by Cup of Couple on Pexels

Many daily routine verbs are reflexive. This means the action reflects back on the subject. They always use a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) that matches the subject pronoun (je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles).

Here are some common ones:

• Se lever (to get up)
  • Je me lève à 7h. (I get up at 7 AM.)
• Se laver (to wash oneself)
  • Tu te laves les mains. (You wash your hands.)
• Se brosser (to brush oneself)
  • Il se brosse les dents. (He brushes his teeth.)
• S'habiller (to get dressed)
  • Elle s'habille vite. (She gets dressed quickly.)
• Se préparer (to get ready)
  • Nous nous préparons pour le travail. (We get ready for work.)
• Se coucher (to go to bed)
  • Ils se couchent tard. (They go to bed late.)

Notice how the reflexive pronoun changes with the subject.

Non-Reflexive Verbs for Daily Actions

Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels

Some actions aren't reflexive:

• Prendre le petit-déjeuner/le déjeuner/le dîner (to have breakfast/lunch/dinner)
  • Je prends le petit-déjeuner. (I have breakfast.)
• Travailler (to work)
  • Tu travailles à la maison. (You work at home.)
• Manger (to eat)
  • Nous mangeons une salade. (We eat a salad.)
• Étudier (to study)
  • J'étudie le français. (I study French.)
• Faire du sport (to do sport)
  • Il fait du sport le soir. (He does sport in the evening.)
• Regarder la télévision (to watch TV)
  • Elles regardent la télévision. (They watch TV.)

Telling Time (L'Heure)

Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels

Telling time is essential for routines. You'll typically use "Il est..." (It is...).

• Heure pile (o'clock):
  • Il est sept heures. (It's 7 o'clock.)
  • Il est une heure. (It's 1 o'clock.)
• Minutes past the hour:
  • Il est sept heures dix. (It's 7:10.)
  • Il est dix heures vingt-cinq. (It's 10:25.)
• Quarter past:
  • Il est sept heures et quart. (It's 7:15.)
• Half past:
  • Il est sept heures et demie. (It's 7:30.)
• Quarter to:
  • Il est huit heures moins le quart. (It's a quarter to 8, literally "8 o'clock minus a quarter.")
• Minutes to the hour:
  • Il est huit heures moins vingt. (It's 7:40, literally "8 o'clock minus twenty.")

Using AM/PM (Matin/Après-midi/Soir):
French often uses the 24-hour clock (e.g., 19h00 for 7 PM). If you're using the 12-hour clock, specify the part of the day:

• Il est sept heures du matin. (It's 7 AM.)
• Il est deux heures de l'après-midi. (It's 2 PM.)
• Il est huit heures du soir. (It's 8 PM.)

Here's a flowchart to help visualize how to form time expressions:

graph TD
    A["Start: What time is it?"] --> B{Is it exactly on the hour?};
    B -- Yes --> C["'Il est' + [number] + 'heures'"];
    B -- No --> D{Is it quarter past, half past, or quarter to?};
    D -- Yes --> E{Quarter past?};
    E -- Yes --> F["'Il est' + [hour] + 'heures et quart'"];
    E -- No --> G{Half past?};
    G -- Yes --> H["'Il est' + [hour] + 'heures et demie'"];
    G -- No --> I{Quarter to?};
    I -- Yes --> J["'Il est' + [next hour] + 'heures moins le quart'"];
    D -- No --> K{Is it minutes past the hour?};
    K -- Yes --> L["'Il est' + [hour] + 'heures' + [minutes]"];
    K -- No --> M{Is it minutes to the hour?};
    M -- Yes --> N["'Il est' + [next hour] + 'heures moins' + [minutes remaining]"];
    C --> O[End];
    F --> O;
    H --> O;
    J --> O;
    L --> O;
    N --> O;

Vocabulary for Daily Routines

Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels

• Le matin (in the morning)
• L'après-midi (in the afternoon)
• Le soir (in the evening)
• La nuit (at night)
• D'abord (first)
• Ensuite / Puis (then / next)
• Après (after)
• Enfin / Finalement (finally)

3. Worked Example

Let's describe a simple daily routine:

"I wake up at 6:30 AM. Then I get up at 7 AM. I brush my teeth. After that, I have breakfast at 7:30 AM. I go to work at 8 AM. I eat lunch at 12:30 PM. In the evening, I do sport at 6 PM. Finally, I go to bed at 10 PM."

In French:

"Je me réveille à six heures et demie du matin. Ensuite, je me lève à sept heures. Je me brosse les dents. Après, je prends le petit-déjeuner à sept heures et demie. Je vais au travail à huit heures. Je déjeune à midi et demi. Le soir, je fais du sport à six heures du soir. Enfin, je me couche à dix heures du soir."

4. Key Takeaways

• Reflexive verbs are common for actions you do to yourself in French.
• Remember to match the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) to the subject.
• To tell time, start with "Il est" followed by the hour and then the minutes.
• "Et quart" (15 past), "et demie" (30 past), and "moins le quart" (15 to) are key time expressions.
• French often uses the 24-hour clock, or you can specify "du matin," "de l'après-midi," or "du soir."

Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Forgetting the reflexive pronoun or using the wrong one (e.g., "Je lave" instead of "Je me lave").
- Confusing "heures" (o'clock) with "heure" (hour, singular). Always use "heures" for plural hours (deux heures, trois heures, etc.).
- Saying "Il est sept heures quinze" instead of "Il est sept heures et quart" (while understandable, 'et quart' is more natural).
- Not using "du matin/de l'après-midi/du soir" when using 12-hour times to avoid confusion.

5. Now Try It

Write five sentences describing your own routine using at least three different reflexive verbs and two different time expressions. Focus on a sequence of events. For example, "First, I do X at [time]. Then, I do Y. Finally, I do Z at [time]." Success looks like correctly conjugating the verbs, using the right reflexive pronouns where needed, and accurately stating the time in French.