France operates differently from what you may be used to in your own country, and becoming acquainted with some of these differences will make university life much more fulfilling! Taking an interest in discovering how time flows can make life at university much more pleasurable!
First and foremost, French does not use AM or PM to refer to times. Instead, they use the phrase heure(s), followed by the hour. For instance: 10 heures is 10 o’clock in French.
Daylight Saving Time
Daylight saving time (DST, in American English) refers to the practice of shifting clocks twice annually in order to adjust for daylight levels. This usually entails moving them forward in spring/early summer and back again by fall/late winter – creating more daylight during evening hours during summer and less during morning hours during winter; typically these changes occur overnight to avoid disrupting sleep patterns; it is commonly referred to by its mnemonic phrase “spring forward, fall back”.
When will France switch to Summer Time?
This year, France will transition into summer time on Saturday 30 March night, giving us one extra hour of daylight in the evenings and darker skies during midday hours. Summer time will remain in effect until Sunday 27 October night when our clocks will go back by an hour.
France, like much of Europe, follows Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Winter time in France falls one hour behind that in England while two hours ahead during summer months due to being east of the prime meridian and therefore receiving less direct sunlight in evening hours than many countries located further north.
DST is highly contentious, with numerous initiatives underway to abolish it; however, such plans have met resistance from farmers and businesses who rely on daylight for work purposes. There have also been health implications raised regarding DST having detrimental impacts on wellbeing.
However, the European Union voted in favour of continuing with the six-monthly time change; this decision must then be approved by all 27 member states before it comes into force; at best it could take until 2023 before we see another clock change.
The Hour of Meals
French people take their time eating meals. This is especially true during lunch, renowned as one of the largest and most indulgent meals of the day in France. Lunch provides an opportunity to linger over a three-course lunch accompanied by wine; unlike many European countries which tend to consume dinner earlier, French prefer eating their evening meal around 20:00 or later.
French cuisine is well-known for being highly specific when it comes to quality and preparation, so expect great care in its preparation and presentation. They typically prefer eating at home en famille; however, restaurants and bistros may provide additional dining opportunities where typically a light snack (such as soup or an appetizer) precedes main course dishes.
They then enjoy a three-course meal, complete with wine and dessert. After their meal, it’s common for them to drink a digestif; an alcoholic drink designed to aid digestion after eating that may include spirits like aperitifs or liqueurs such as brandy, grappa, sherry or port. A small cup of coffee may also be offered afterward but should be enjoyed without mixing with cream or milk.
Breakfast for French people generally involves something simple but filling like bread with butter or pastry, although eating out is also popular in Paris.
At work, French employees typically take time out for lunch – otherwise known as le dejeuner – to relax after a busy morning at the office and catch up with coworkers.
Laws mandating two-hour lunch breaks were first passed in 1821 to encourage workers to leave their workplaces and spend time eating and drinking with coworkers and friends. Although this practice might not always be practical for businesses, having lunch dates with clients and colleagues could still prove fruitful in building relationships!
The Hour of the Day
Learning French time-telling skills is an indispensable ability for language learners. Even if you don’t plan on visiting France anytime soon, knowing how to read and write the hours will make communicating with locals much simpler when traveling abroad.
French for “hour” is “heure”, pronounced ouhr. This differs slightly from its English equivalent in that there is no “e” at the end of it, making it useful when asking or giving information about time to someone. Additionally, numbers preceding “heure” should usually include it; however this practice can be left out when writing.
When speaking with native speakers of French, using the 24-hour clock rather than AM/PM system to describe time is best. Instead of saying five o’clock (five hours), instead you might say seven o’clock. Additionally, during dark times French people typically use phrases such as du matin (before noon), de l’apres-midi (12 pm to 6 pm) and du soir until midnight for each hour until midnight comes around.
You may also use fractions like “and two thirds and less one quarter”, “three fourths and five inches”, and “treinte-cinque” to describe an hour, although these terms can be difficult for foreigners to grasp. These phrases should only be used with numbers one through twelve for formal grammar rules to apply correctly.
Most French people tend to eat dinner between 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM, although timing can differ according to personal schedules or regional customs. They usually enjoy an elaborate multi-course dinner with family and friends, often starting off with an “aperirif”.
Learning French will enable you to better comprehend both their culture and work environment, as well as those who reside within it. Travelers visiting France should also gain an advantage by being aware of what time the sun rises and sets in each region, so as to plan their itinerary effectively. Furthermore, reading time could prove indispensable when trying to meet up with someone from a distant time zone or distance away.
The Hour of the Night
French timekeeping can differ significantly from that of other cultures. Therefore, it’s essential that you learn its quirks so as to avoid miscommunication when speaking to French speakers.
At one time, different towns and cities determined local solar time based on sun’s position at sunrise and sunset. To facilitate railway timetables, France adopted unified time in 1891 based on Paris Observatory; today metropolitan France uses Central European Time (UTC+01:00) year-round while Daylight Saving Time runs from the last Sunday in March through to the last Sunday in October; its overseas territories follow their own time zones without shifting between daylight savings time periods.
Visitors from other parts of the world often find the difference between standard and summer time in France can be dauntingly confusing, making communicating time confusingly. One simple method for telling time in France is simply saying what hour it is without specifying whether or not DST applies, or adding the phrase “il est” (“it is”) after saying how many hours. For more formal situations it is also acceptable to say, for instance: “il y a six heures moins deux” (“it is six minutes to six”).
As another way of showing the time at noon, one could say “il est minuit quinze”, which means midnight fifteen. French uses fractional numbers et and moins to express numbers 1-12 only – for instance you would say there are fifty-six hours or that it is nine minutes to nine!
As awareness grows of their limited energy gains and detrimental impacts on health, sleep quality, and road safety, seasonal time changes in Europe are nearing their end. A referendum to end twice-yearly time changes is set for France on May 7, 2019, though many oppose it; therefore it would need approval by majority of regions across all Member States before passing into law.