In this grammar lesson you will learn how to express punctuality in French.
In this lesson you will learn about:
- how to express punctuality in French
- how to express punctuality in French is used in sentences
- how you can immediately test your knowledge on how to express punctuality in French
- the way you can download Anki files for how to express punctuality in French
Please refer to the French A1 Curriculum to get a better overview of French grammar, if you are curious about how this idiom fits in French A1 grammar.
By the end of the lesson you will know all about how to express punctuality in French!
Table of Contents
How to Express Punctuality in French
In this chapter you will learn how to express punctuality in French.
One can be early, on time, or late.
All three of these cases will be handled, and examples will be provided for every case.
- (être) en avance = (to be) early
Je suis en avance.
I am early.
Je suis un peu en avance.
I am a little early.
Suis-je en avance ?
Am I early?
- (être) à l’heure = (to be) on time
Il est toujours à l’heure.
He is always on time.
Elle n’est jamais à l’heure.
She is never on time.
L’avion est-il à l’heure ?
Is the plane on schedule?
- (être) en retard = (to be) late
Je suis désolé d’être en retard.
I’m sorry I‘m late.
Nous sommes en retard.
We are late.
Il arrive souvent en retard.
He often arrives late.
Please go over être conjugation in the present tense, if conjugating être is still a bit tricky.
Examples Sentences on How to Express Punctuality in French
The final section of this lesson on how to express possession with être à is about seeing the idiom in action.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding on how to express possession with être à through examples.
Je suis en avance.
I am early.
Je suis un peu en avance.
I am a little early.
Suis-je en avance ?
Am I early?
Je suis désolé d’être en retard.
I’m sorry I‘m late.
Il est toujours à l’heure.
He is always on time.
Elle n’est jamais à l’heure.
She is never on time.
L’avion est-il à l’heure ?
Is the plane on schedule?
Il arrive souvent en retard.
He often arrives late.
Nous sommes en retard.
We are late.
Vous êtes vraiment en retard !
You are really late!
Sont-ils à l’heure ?
Are they on time?
Test Your Knowledge on How to Express Punctuality in French
It’s not enough just to read the article on this lesson.
You should test your knowledge to see if you really understood everything, and to be able to repeat the material.
It is also for this reason that it is recommended to download the Anki Decks and do them.
At the end of every lesson you can do a small test.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter. It is up to you to give the correct answer.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the quiz as many times as you want.
Anki File for How to Express Punctuality in French
It is important to do the Anki excercises for this lesson, so that you can remember what you just studied.
By downloading the Anki File for French A1 you can practice every French A1 lesson that is on Language Atlas.
At this moment the Anki File for this lesson doesn’t exist yet. However, in due time this will be available on Language Atlas.
If you don’t know why you should use Anki, or don’t know how to use Anki or merge Anki files please click here.
Anki can be downloaded from here.