Prepare your note
This task asks you to update a diary entry. You need the day, the new time, and the person who agrees to it. It is not an exercise in converting every French number into digits. A speaker can mention two times because one is wrong, not because you have two appointments. Draw an arrow from the old time to the new time. Keep a separate space for the date so that the time correction does not accidentally move the day as well.
Your diary currently says Tuesday, 15:30, haircut. Imagine that the salon calls with a change. You are free at 16:15, but not at 16:30. This personal constraint makes the numbers matter. Read the message without looking at the English version first. After one reading, decide whether you could accept the proposed time. Then use the translation to check your reasoning. The written scene prepares a future listening task; it is not an audio comprehension test by itself.
Your scene task
— Votre rendez-vous de mardi était prévu à quinze heures trente. Est-ce que vous pourriez venir à seize heures et quart à la place ?
— À seize heures quinze ? Oui, c’est bon pour moi. — Parfait, je note mardi à seize heures quinze.
Show English translations
— Your Tuesday appointment was scheduled for 15:30. Could you come at a quarter past four instead?
— At 16:15? Yes, that works for me. — Perfect, I will note Tuesday at 16:15.
Make your decision
Write the final diary entry. Explain why the appointment does not move to 16:30. Identify two different expressions for the same proposed time. Then mark the first point at which the proposal becomes an agreed change. You can answer with turn numbers if that is clearer. This forces you to follow the exchange as an action, not merely to detect familiar time words. For a second attempt, hide the text and reconstruct the old-to-new arrow from your own short note.
Open the answer key
The final entry is Tuesday at 16:15 for the haircut. Seize heures et quart and seize heures quinze express the same time. The half-hour expression trente belongs to the original 15:30 appointment. The customer accepts the change with oui, c’est bon pour moi. The salon then repeats the new day and time. That final repetition confirms the same result rather than adding a third appointment. The dialogue provides no month or date number, so your diary still needs that information from elsewhere.
The distinction that matters
À la place means instead in this context. It introduces a replacement, not a location. Était prévu describes the previous arrangement. Do not let the familiar original time override the later agreed time. Also distinguish et quart from moins le quart. The former is a quarter past; the latter is a quarter to. Only et quart appears in this exercise. A real speaker might use either pattern, so inspect the complete time phrase rather than treating quart as fifteen minutes after every hour.
Try the task on your own video
Choose a short French call or scene with a rescheduled event. Pause your note-taking after the proposal and before the reply. Keep the change provisional until someone accepts it. We make Jibber Jabber. Its interactive captions can help you check a time phrase when you find a suitable French video. The app does not manage your appointments. For a real call, repeat the final time aloud and ask for confirmation. Here, the useful skill is updating one field while preserving the rest of the arrangement.
Questions and answers
Is et quart always fifteen minutes?
In a time expression it means a quarter past the stated hour.
Did Tuesday change?
No. Both the opening and final turns keep Tuesday.
Why repeat the number in digits?
It lets you compare the two French expressions without treating them as different times.
Sources for this entry
- Jibber Jabber: matching French guide ↗. Publisher context for further practice. We make Jibber Jabber. Product access and pricing were checked against the official product facts on 9 November 2026.
- The French scene, translation, task, and key are original editorial examples. They are not quotations, recordings, or research evidence. Read our checking method and source policy.
Continue this reading path
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Terms used in this task: self-correction.
Read the Jibber Jabber product profile for its limits.
How the related sites connect
This workbook is one of a coordinated collection of comprehensible input guides published by Jibber Jabber. They share one publisher and are not independent endorsements.
Cite this page
Jibber Jabber. “Catch a corrected appointment time in French.” French Listening Atelier. Updated 9 November 2026. https://frenchcomprehensibleinput.com/appointment-time-correction/.