heures
/œʁ/
heures is the French word for hours.
heures is used to denote the unit of time for both durations (e.g., a period of several hours) and the specific time of day (e.g., 4 o'clock). When telling time, you can use the phrase et quart after the hour to mean quarter past or moins le quart to mean quarter to. To indicate a time that is slightly later than a specific hour, you can use the phrase un peu plus de followed by the hour. To say an hour is nearly reached, you can use presque followed by the hour.
How does it change in a sentence?
The singular form of the word is heure, which is a feminine noun. The plural form heures is used whenever the quantity is greater than one. Because heure is feminine, the feminine article une is used for one o'clock.
How do you pronounce it?
/œʁ/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly pronounce the final 's' in heures. However, the 's' should remain silent.
Did you know?
- French has a specific term heure bleue or 'blue hour' to describe the period of twilight before sunrise or after sunset. It is a widely used poetic and photographic term that designates a specific quality of light.
- In France, the 24-hour clock is the standard for official schedules, trains and shops. An English speaker might be confused to see 20 heures on a sign instead of '8 p.m.', though in casual conversation people still use the 12-hour cycle.
- When using the 12-hour clock, French speakers often use phrases like du matin or du soir to clarify the time of day. This is because the word heures doesn't distinguish between 'a.m.' and 'p.m.' on its own.
Examples in context
- Il est une heure.It is one o'clock.
- Il est deux heures.It is two o'clock.
- Il est neuf heures trente.It is nine-thirty.
- Il est seize heures vingt-cinq.It is sixteen twenty-five.
- Il est quatre heures et quart.It is four fifteen.
- Il est dix-sept heures et quart.It is seventeen fifteen.
- C'est neuf heures trente.It's nine-thirty.
- C'est seize heures vingt-cinq.It's sixteen twenty-five.
- C'est un peu plus de quatre heures.It's just after four o'clock.
- C'est un peu plus de vingt et une heures.It's just after twenty-one o'clock.
- C'est presque trois heures.It's almost three o'clock.
- C'est presque dix-sept heures.It's almost seventeen o'clock.
- Il est seize heuresIt is 16:00.
- Il est deux heures du matin.It is two o'clock in the morning.
- Le film dure deux heures.The movie lasts two hours.
- J'ai travaillé pendant huit heures.I worked for eight hours.
Example conversation
Manon and Hugo are discussing their meeting time.
- ManonOn se voit à combien d'heures ?What time are we meeting?
- HugoOn peut se voir à onze heures.We can meet at eleven o'clock.
- ManonC'est parfait pour moi, Hugo.That is perfect for me, Hugo.
- HugoÀ tout à l'heure, Manon !See you soon, Manon!
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry heures, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
