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Annual French Expression
| Meaning | to end daylight saving time, return to standard time, turn the clocks back | |
| Literally | to pass to winter time | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  | [pah say ah leur dee vehr] |
| IPA | [pa se a lœʀ di vɛʀ] | |
Usage notes: Daylight saving time* is a twice annual, manual time change that occurs in about half of the world. The dates and details vary slightly by country** but the basic idea is the same: in the wee hours of a fall Sunday – in late October / early November – clocks are set back by one hour, giving citizens a much-appreciated extra hour of sleep that morning.
Par exemple…
| Quand est-ce qu’on passe à l’heure d’hiver cette année ? | When do we set the clocks back this year? | |
| N’oublie pas qu’on va passer à l’heure d’hiver dimanche matin ! | Don’t forget to set your clock back Sunday morning! |
The corresponding spring time change is less welcome, and yet the extra fall hour is in fact a simple reversal of the 60 minutes that were stolen in the spring. Le passage à l’heure d’hiver marks the end of daylight saving time and the return to normal time.
In French, this "normal time" may be called any of the following:
| Literal translation | ||
| l’heure d’hiver | winter time | |
| l’heure légale | legal time | |
| l’heure normale | normal time |
* Yes, "saving." Despite its omnipresence, the phrase "daylight savings time" is incorrect.
** In Metropolitan France, daylight saving time begins at 2 am on the last Sunday in March and ends at 3 am on the last Sunday in October – find out the dates. For other countries, see Daylight saving time around the world.
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