Look at these sentences:
Je suis désolé d'être en retard
I'm sorry I'm late
Notice that to say that you are late/early/on time in French, you use the expressions:
(être) en retard
(être) en avance
(être) à l'heure
See also Expressing timeliness (late, early) - precise
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Je ne suis jamais à l'heure!
I am never on time!
Ne venez pas en avance, s'il-vous-plaît!
Don't come early, please!
Vous êtes vraiment en avance!
You are really early!
Stéphane est arrivé à l'heure à l'école
Stéphane arrived on time to school
Je suis désolé d'être en retard
I'm sorry I'm late
Nous voulons vraiment arriver à l'heure
We really want to arrive on time
Julie arrive en retard tous les jours.
Julie arrives late every day
Tu étais en retard ce matin!
You were late this morning!
La réunion a commencé en avance
The meeting started early
Q&A
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
30/01/19
Hi Okezie,
It depends on the context ...
This question was about how to say- late, early, on time. In this context you cannot say in advance.
En avance can actually mean: early, ahead of time, and in advance
For instance,
Nous prenons les paiements en avance = We take payments in advance
Les réservations doivent être faites en avance = Bookings have to be made in advance
Hope this helps!
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
26/05/18
Hi Brenda,
There's nothing wrong about the expression 'de bonne heure' for early but it is used slightly differently.
The lesson refers to a specific time and you can be 'en avance', à l'heure , ou 'en retard'. So the train expected at 13 42 will be any of these.
You would use 'de bonne heure' when you mean 'tôt' and the sense of earliness is less precise in my opinion.
Nous sommes partis de bonne heure ce matin pour éviter la circulation. (We left early this morning to avoid the traffic.)
Essaie de rentrer de bonne heure ce soir! (Try to come home early tonight !)
Hope this helps!
Sherry
Kwiziq community member
29 November 2017
2 replies
Are "à temps" and "à l'heure" not interchangeable?
Bonjour. I used the first one in a quiz to fill in the blank, and it was marked wrong: "Étais-tu ________ (à temps) pour ton rendez-vous? Were you on time for your appointment?" But à temps was used in another quiz: "Il court ________ (pour) arriver au travail à temps. He runs [in order] to get to work on time."
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
30/11/17
Sherry
Kwiziq community member
30/11/17
Jennifer
Kwiziq community member
28/08/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
28/08/17
Yes I agree that in the absence of context, both tard and en retard could work in this sentence.
However, seen as we're testing specifically en retard here, I've therefore removed and updated this question to give it a clear context :)
Thank you very much for pointing this out !
Merci et à bientôt !
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
1/08/17
'Tard' expresses the quality of lateness usually with with respect to time of the day or some other event, whereas the 'retard' means late in the sense of being behind a schedule, delayed or dropping behind.
Compare these French expressions with 'tard' with these French expressions with 'retard'.
Notice that 'tard' is an adjective, whereas the expression 'en retard' functions as adverb ('retard' on its own is a noun).
Hope that helps!
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
22/06/17
Advika
Kwiziq community member
23/06/17
Robin
Kwiziq community member
29/12/18
Does this include the use of "de" in the example Je suis d'être en retard"? I was wondering why there needs to be the "de" before the verb être. Thank you.
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
30/12/18
Hi Robin, I think you missed reading the word désolé in the example with 'de':
"Je suis désolé d'être en retard"
An alternative translation in English might be "I'm sorry about being late" where 'about' is playing a similar role to 'de' (but notice in French the infinitive, être, follows, whereas in English we follow with the present participle in this example).
Ron
Kwiziq community member
24/06/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
2/12/16
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
31/05/16
Bonjour Clarissa !
The word "tôt" means "early" as opposed to "tard" (late) in French, to indicate a time in the day, i.e. "early in the morning".
e.g. "Je me suis levé tôt." (I got up early.)
"Oh là là, il est tôt !" (Oh, it's early!)
"Tu es arrivé plus tôt que prévu." (You arrived earlier than expected.)
"En avance" and "en retard" indicate a relationship between those moments and a given time: you're early or late compared to that given time.
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
gerry
Kwiziq community member
6 March 2019
2 replies
the lesson stipulates the use of être then the relevant expression but i don't see this in some examples. e.g. Ne venez pas en avance
or Nous voulons vraiment arriver. Can someone clarify this for me.
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
8 March 2019
8/03/19
Hi Gerry,
To be early = Être en avance
To be late = Être en retard
To be on time = Être à l'heure
We have just changed the verbs and meanings-
Ne venez pas en avance! Don''t come early !
Nous voulons vraiment arriver à l'heure = We really want to arrive on time.
Hope this helps!
gerry
Kwiziq community member
8 March 2019
8/03/19
merci