French · Beginner (A1) · Chapter 9 of 12
Time and dates
Les jours et les dates
Learn the days, months and dates in French, make an appointment on the phone and talk about plans with aller + infinitive.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Say the days of the week and the months
- Say and understand dates
- Make an appointment
- Talk about plans with aller + infinitive
Listen
Antoine phones a doctors' practice in Montpellier to make an appointment. He and the receptionist use vous. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Receptionist
Cabinet médical, bonjour.
Doctors' practice, good morning.
Antoine
Bonjour, madame. Je voudrais un rendez-vous avec le docteur Roux, s'il vous plaît.
Good morning. I'd like an appointment with Dr Roux, please.
Receptionist
Oui… Mardi 12 mars, à dix heures, ça vous va ?
Yes… Tuesday 12 March at ten o'clock, does that suit you?
Antoine
Mardi, je vais être à Nîmes pour le travail. Jeudi, c'est possible ?
On Tuesday I'm going to be in Nîmes for work. Is Thursday possible?
Receptionist
Jeudi 14 mars, à seize heures trente ?
Thursday 14 March at 4.30 pm?
Antoine
Oui, c'est parfait.
Yes, that's perfect.
Receptionist
C'est à quel nom ?
What name is it under?
Antoine
Antoine Girard.
Antoine Girard.
Receptionist
Très bien, monsieur Girard. À jeudi.
Very good, Mr Girard. See you on Thursday.
Antoine
Merci, madame. Au revoir.
Thank you. Goodbye.
Understand
Days of the week
Days and months are written with a small letter in French. To say “on Tuesday”, just say , with no extra word. means “on Tuesdays”, every week.
Useful words: (today), (tomorrow), (the week), (next week), (the weekend).
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Monday | |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | |
| Saturday | |
| Sunday |
Months and dates
A date is + number + month: , . With a day of the week, is often dropped: . The first of the month is : .
To ask the date, say and answer On est le… Here is the everyday “we” from chapter 1: literally “we are the how-many?”. Watch the sounds: the s of is pronounced, and sounds like “oot” or “oo”.
| French | English | French | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | July | ||
| February | August | ||
| March | September | ||
| April | October | ||
| May | November | ||
| June | December |
- On est le combien aujourd'hui ? — On est le 3 mai.What's the date today? — It's 3 May.
- le premier janvier1 January
Going to: aller + infinitive
means “to go”. It's irregular, so learn its forms by heart. Followed by a verb in the infinitive, it talks about the near future, exactly like English “going to”:
To say where you're going, use : , . But + becomes , and + becomes :
| (to go) | English |
|---|---|
| I go, I'm going | |
| you go (to a friend) | |
| / | he / she goes |
| we go | |
| you go (polite or plural) | |
| / | they go |
- Je vais être à Nîmes mardi.I'm going to be in Nîmes on Tuesday.
- Nous allons prendre le train.We're going to take the train.
More in the grammar: French numbers: from 0 to a million · The near future: aller + infinitive · The present tense of -er verbs
New words
- le cabinet médicaldoctors' practice, surgery
- le rendez-vousappointment, meeting
- avecwith
- le docteurdoctor · used as a title:
- mardiTuesday, on Tuesday
- marsMarch · the s is pronounced
- ça vous va ?does that suit you? (polite) · to a friend:
- je vais êtreI'm going to be
- pour le travailfor work · : for; : work
- c'est possible ?is that possible?
- parfaitperfect
- c'est à quel nom ?what name is it under?
- à jeudisee you on Thursday
- demaintomorrow
Practise
1.How do you say “1 May”?
2.Complete with : “We're going to work tomorrow.”
We're going to work tomorrow.
3.Write the missing day.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
4.Which sentence is written correctly?
5.Put the words in order.
Tap the words below in the right order.I'd like an appointment for Thursday.
6.Match the French with the English.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
Je voudrais un rendez-vous, s'il vous plaît.
I'd like an appointment, please.
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.