Are you looking for a handy list to help you learn the parts of the day in French? Look no further, you’ve found it! Early morning, sunrise, dawn, late afternoon, sunset, dusk… We have everything you’ll need, both as a noun and as an adverb of time (a.k.a. a time of day outfitted with a preposition, like à l’aube – “at dawn”).
And if you’re a visual learner, all you have to do is click here to check out our Colorful Visual Aid for Times of the Day. It’s a “French study material meets eye candy” type of situation.
Parts of the day in French: nouns
| EN | FR |
| the early morning | le petit matin, le début de la matinée, les premières heures du matin |
| the sunrise | le lever du soleil |
| the dawn | l’aube (f) |
| the late morning | la fin de matinée |
| noon | (le) midi |
| the afternoon | l’après-midi (m/f) |
| the late afternoon | la fin d’après-midi |
| the early evening | le début de soirée |
| the sunset | le (soleil) couchant, la tombée du jour |
| the dusk | le crépuscule |
| the evening | le soir (a moment in time), la soirée (a duration) |
| the late evening | la fin de soirée |
| the night | la nuit |
| midnight | (le) minuit |
Is there a difference between soir and soirée in French?
This is a question that keeps coming up, and for good reason. At first glance, these two words seem to describe the same thing. You’re right to have some doubts, though: there’s a slight difference in usage that you should take into account.
Soir means a certain point in the day (the evening). In contrast, soirée is used to emphasize the evening time period – basically starting from sunset and ending at night (when people start turning in), so approximately from 6 p.m. to 12 p.m., depending on the time of the year.
(Note: it’s worth keeping in mind that the French word soirée has multiple meanings. Besides “evening”, it can signify an “evening party” or a “reception”, too.)
Is there a difference between matin and matinée?
The same thing is true for matin and matinée. Matin signifies an exact time point during the day (the morning); if you use matinée, you emphasize the duration of the morning period starting from about dawn to noon.
It’s arguably not a huge difference, but it’s still worth knowing!
Parts of the day with prepositions in French: Adverbs of time
| EN | FR |
| in the early morning | au petit matin, en début de la matinée, durant les premières heures du matin, tôt le matin |
| at sunrise | au lever du soleil |
| at dawn | à l’aube |
| in the late morning | en fin de matinée |
| at noon | à midi |
| in the afternoon | l’après-midi, dans l’après-midi |
| in the late afternoon | en fin d’après-midi |
| in the early evening | en début de soirée |
| at sunset | au (soleil) couchant, à la tombée du jour |
| at dusk | au crépuscule |
| in the evening | le soir, dans la soirée, pendant la soirée (emphasis on period) |
| in the late evening | en fin de soirée |
| at night | (pendant) la nuit |
| at midnight | à minuit |
Parts of the day + prepositions: eye candy edition
Because colors.
Thanks for reading! If you’re also interested in learning months and seasons in French, don’t hesitate to check out this article. You’ll never have any problems with prepositions ever again.