telling time

Question

In one quiz (Kwiz) I was asked to translate "five thirty AM" I wrote "cinq heures trente" assuming the 24 hour clock. This was apparently wrong because apparently we were talking about a 12 hour clock.

In the very next quiz (Kwiz) I was asked to translate "ten minutes to seven AM" so I wrote "sept heures moins dix du matin" which was also wrong because we were now apparently talking about the 24 hour clock (not apparently for any other reason).

Would it be possible to tell us whether we were talking about 12 or 24 hours on the clock?

My natural presumption is for 24 unless otherwise specified.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour à tous,
Thank you all for your feedback. We have now updated both lessons (Telling time - Simple / Telling time - AM PM) on this topic, as well as the questions from the kwiz. Hints have been added when necessary so as to avoid any ambiguity. 
We hope this is helpful and much clearer from now on.
Merci et bonne journée !

Answer

Hi Mark,I think that the following link will help you to understand more clearly:-https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/view/4749

Answer

If it happened in a quiz, better to report it through the issue button. I cannot recall coming across any questions in that section that did not include sufficient information to know whether the answer was expected in 12 hour or 24 hour clock. Depending on question format, some questions accept either or expect both.

Answer

Most of the confusion about telling time in French comes from mixing the 12-hour (conversational) style with the 24-hour (military/official) style.

"Five-thirty AM" is strictly speaking 12-hour style, because in the 24-hour style the AM is superfluous. Hence, the proper way to say it is cinq heure et demie (du matin).

"Ten minutes to seven AM" is definitely 12-hour style (because it uses AM and also because it is given as 10 minutes to 7) and translates to sept heures moins dix (du matin).

There seems to be a discrepancy which could be a problem with the lesson. The objective of the lesson should not be to guess 12/24-h correctly but to be able to tell time in either of the two ways. Mark's suggestion seems reasonable.