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Post by GitteK on Feb 6, 2009 4:14:20 GMT -5
OK, so I learned all this in the Early Bronze Age, but am too bone lazy to make a research, so could we do this together ? I feel like such a nitwit with times and dates. I will arrive in Paris on the 30th of AprilJ'arriverai à Paris ............. - le trente avril - le trentième avril (it's not "au", right ?)I will be in Paris from the 30th of April to the 11th of MayJe serai à Paris du (de ?) ............ - jusqu'au - jusqu'à I would like to book a table for 19:30 Je voudrais réserver une table pour (?) - dix-neuf heures et demi - dix-neuf heures trente - sept heures et demi - sept heures trente (and do I need to add "ce soir" - so that they don't hold a breakfast table for me ? ) PM or AM ? In general would it be colloquially OK to say "half past six" when you mean in the evening, i.e. - six heures et demi/ six heures trente ........... or would you always use the digitalized version - dix-huit heures et demi/ dix-huit heures trente Hours...... getting worse and worse 11:50 - midi moins dix ? - onze heures cinquante ? (you would NEVER say douze heures, when you mean midday, right ?) 14:35- deux heures trentecinq ? - quatorze heures trentecinq ? - trois heures moins vingtcinq ? (this would in DK be "5 minutes past half 3" )20:45- neuf heures moins le quart - vingt-et-un heures moins le quart - vingt heures quarantecinq ? 00:15- minuit et le quart ? - zero heures quinze ? HOW ?? And a final off-topic question. I have never managed to find a "mouthfriendly" French phrase for: - How far is it to the station ? - How long will it take to walk to the station ? - How deep is the Seine ? - How tall is the Eiffel Tower ?
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Post by Anne on Feb 6, 2009 6:40:49 GMT -5
Bon, je prends mon élan :
- J'arriverai a Paris le trente avril (note : no capital letters for months or days of the week)
- Je serai à Paris du 30 avril au 11 mai ("jusqu'au" is OK, but more heavy)
- Je voudrais réserver une table pour dix neuf heures trente . If you said "sept heures et demie", then you would have to add "ce soir", but as long as you use a twelve+ hour, it cannot be anything else than post meridiem .
- You can use both . In current life, people tend to use more the "half past six" version, adding "ce soir" whenever there could be a doubt . But you don't use "et demie" or "quart" with a twelve+ hour
- 11:50 : both are right Yes, you can say douze heures for midday, but not for midnight
- 14:35 : the two last ones are right . The first one sounds a bit bizarre . Vingt et une heure moins le quart is really bizarre (see previously)
- 00:15 : minuit et quart or zéro heure quinze
- A quelle distance se trouve la gare ? - Combien de temps faut-il pour y aller à pied ? - Quelle est la profondeur de la Seine ? - Quelle est la hauteur de la Tour Eiffel ?
I agree that the Enlish way of asking : how ... is much more convenient .
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Post by GitteK on Feb 6, 2009 7:36:15 GMT -5
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!
So it is as I guessed. There is no real one-to-one equivalent of the English "How+measure" expression.
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Post by Laura (paris4) on Feb 6, 2009 8:58:41 GMT -5
Oh this is a good topic. Thanks Gitte and Anne! I am ok with dates, well practised thanks to much email correspondence about apartment availabilities. ;D Time on the other hand I find tricky. I didn't know that you don't use 'et demie' or 'quart' with the 24 hour clock so that is a useful tip. Let's see if I've got it right: 14:05 deux heures et cinq or quatorze heures et cinq 14:15 deux heures et quart but quatorze heures et quinze 14:45 trois heures moins le quart but quinze heures moins quinze (not sure about that one ) 14:55 trois heures moins cinq or quinze heures moins cinq Are these ok? Also is 'moins le quart' the only one with 'le' in it? You wouldn't say 'moins le cinq' for five to the hour or 'et le quart' for quarter past the hour, would you? With regard to the 'how' questions, I really stuggle with the 'how long does it take'. I have to agree that the phrase for 'how long does it take to walk there' is not what Gitte calls 'mouthfriendly'. ;D Laura x
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Post by GitteK on Feb 6, 2009 9:56:04 GMT -5
Laura, I don't think you would insert an "et", unless you use the terms "le quart" or "demi". 14:05 would be just "deux heures cinq" 14:15 would be "quatorze heures quinze" or "deux heures et le quart" (I think you squeeze a "le" in before "quart"...... ) 15:30 is "trois heures et demi" - or "quinze heures trente" - or ?? ?? ?? OMG......
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Post by Truffaut on Feb 6, 2009 10:04:19 GMT -5
Paris4, Your question isn't entirely clear because you're forgetting about context. Nobody would ever use the 24-hour clock when talking about something social (e.g., Je te trouverai au bar à seize heures trente.), but you would use that phrasing if you're making a train reservation or something similar that relies on a sort of "official" schedule. Restaurants are middle ground--my experience is that the 12-hour clock and the 24-hour clock is somewhat interchangeable, though I find that perhaps the more formal restos tend to go with the 24-hour.
Gitte, No matter how you say it, a phrase requesting a reservation for 7:30 pm is useless. I mean, God help us, who eats at that hour? And even if one were so ill-bred, it would hardly be necessary to make a reservation ;D
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Post by Anne on Feb 6, 2009 10:14:08 GMT -5
Truffy, actually, the 24-hour clock is slowly making its way into social life, even if it is far less used than 12-hour clock .
Paris and Gitte, I agree that it is difficult, there are a few examples where I would actually scratch my head in order to explain you the "why" . Anyway :
14:05 deux heures cinq or quatorze heures cinq
14:15 deux heures et quart or quatorze heures quinze
14:45 trois heures moins le quart or quatorze heures quarante cinq
14:55 trois heures moins cinq or quatorze heures cinquante cinq
15:30 trois heures et demie or quinze heures trente
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Post by denise on Feb 6, 2009 13:08:58 GMT -5
:)Oh dear...
I am sure you may have notice I am trained to use the 24 hour clock when writing times, as I am sure Mossie does also.
Of course when speaking in English I sometime use "half past eight" version
So this is very useful. Had no idea that the French would not use a 24 hour clock when referring to time.
Good job we are going to London for the WW GTG, everybody will understand either.
Denise Love from england
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Post by phread on Feb 6, 2009 13:47:45 GMT -5
My experience is different than yours, Truffaut. My friends invite me for dinner at 20h.
ANd hey, I just learned that Guy Savoy is offering free meals to teens aged 15-17, so I made reservations for next month at 19h30... its a school night and I expect the dinner to be LONG!!!
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Post by mossie on Feb 6, 2009 14:01:10 GMT -5
Yes the 24 hour clock is used formally for transport and of course the military, but in casual conversation the 12 hour clock is usual. We have the very useful "25 to", "quarter to",and "25 past", etc., expressions to help out. Of course it can get complicated, when being trained to navigate, most of us rash 18 year olds were unfamiliar with the 24 hour clock. After a while we had to get used to navigating at night and nearly everyone made the classic mistake when calculating time ahead, say to ETA. Say time now is 2340 and calculated time to ETA is 1.30. People would enter 2510 in the log and earn a black mark from the instructor and a bit of ridicule. The big difficulty is midnight, there is no such time recognised as 0000, so the day ended at 2359 and the next one began at 0001. Irish or what?
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Post by Truffaut on Feb 6, 2009 15:15:39 GMT -5
Hmm, OK, I guess I'm behind the times. (Couldn't resist that pun). Signing off at quinze heures et quart....
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Post by geordy on Feb 6, 2009 17:56:56 GMT -5
I recall many years ago ,1992?, calling for reservations to a restaurant in Italy. Having secured an English speaker on the phone I asked for a table at 8:30pm....I could hear him doing the math on the other end! ;D Working in law enforcement I could just have easily said 2030...we call it military time here as it is used, of course, in the armed services and in "para-military" type organizations like law enforcement agencies, etc.
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Post by Shoesy on Feb 7, 2009 2:37:58 GMT -5
Hmm, OK, I guess I'm behind the times. (Couldn't resist that pun). And a good pun at that, Truffy.
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Post by Shoesy on Feb 7, 2009 2:43:15 GMT -5
ANd hey, I just learned that Guy Savoy is offering free meals to teens aged 15-17, so I made reservations for next month at 19h30... its a school night and I expect the dinner to be LONG!!! Phread - Are you going to try to pass as a 16 year old?
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