Telling time

Question

Please can someone help. I have just had « Il est neuf heures quinze » marked as incorrect, the correct answer being « Il est neuf heures et quart ». I had thought either would be OK. Thanks.

Answer

Can you expand on questions or context ? Both can be correct. I use 24 hour clock by default for French, so would use the first as you did, unless there was some reason to be restricted to 12 hour clock requiring the second answer (with or without du matin or du soir).

Answer

Thank you, I looked again at the question again. It said translate « It is quarter past nine. » I obviously missed the point of the question!

Answer

@Céline/Cecile: seeing that a lot of people simply don't pick up on subtle clues which style to use (12/24 h) but otherwise get the answer correct, I would generally give a hint which form you're looking for. The goal is less to recognize 12/24 h style but to be firm in using them.

Answer

Hi Chris, 
Thank you for your comment. Just  to let you know that we are looking at being more precise in the Kwizzes time questions. 
In practice, normally French people would use the 12h clock for the morning (as the 24h sounds very military) and the 24 h clock for the afternoon to avoid any confusion in the time.
But we can certainly make the questions more definitive.