How to say time in english

How to say the time in English – Examples and Reference

Analogue	Digital	Normal Use	Hints	Timetables, TV, etc.
	6:00	It’s 6 o’clock.
	6:05	It’s 5 past 6.	past and the previous hour (here: 6)	It’s six oh five.
	6:15	It’s quarter past 6.		It’s six fifteen.
	6:30	It’s half past 6.		It’s six thirty.
	6:35	It’s 25 to 7.	to and the following hour (here: 7)	It’s six thirty-five.
	6:45	It’s quarter to seven.		It’s six forty-five.
	6:55	It’s 5 to 7.		It’s six fifty-five.
	7:00	It’s 7o’clock.

1. The 12-hour-system in English

In English there is no 24-hour-system (sometimes it is used on TV and in timetables).

15:00 is 3 o’clock (p.m.) (on TV: fifteenhundred). That’s why you use a.m. (Latin: ante meridiem) and p.m. (post meridiem) in situations where it is necessary to point out that you want to say in the morning or in the evening. In other situations (or when it is clear that school starts in the morning and the party in the evening) it is left out.

2. When to use o’clock

o’clock (abbreviation: of the clock) only on the hour

3. Quarter past and to

quarter → 15 minutes
half → 30 minutes

4. The minutes

multiplies of 5: leave out the word minutes (but: 6.01 → It’s one minute past 6.)

Telling The Time in English

Telling the time means to say what the time is.

Asking The Time: ( How do we ask the time?)

We can use some questions for asking the time which are given below;

At Full Hours : ( O’clock /… :00)

O’clock ‘ is used at full hours. It means there are no minutes.

FORM OF THE ANSWER:

It is ………. o’clock.

Note: In English, time is expressed with 12-hour time zones.

At Half Hours: ( 30 minutes passed the hour)

‘Half past’ expression is used when clock shows half hours.

FORM OF THE ANSWER:

At Quarter Hours: ( 15 minutes after the hour or 15 minutes before the hour)

‘a quarter to’ and ‘a quarter past’ expressions are used when clock shows quarter hours.

FORMS OF THE ANSWER:

At Other Hours: ( Past / To)

We use PAST for ( 01 minute to 30 minutes )

We use TO for ( 31 to 59 minutes )

FORM OF THE ANSWER :

It is …….. minutes past / to ……..

Notes:

1. For multiplies of 5, we leave out the word ‘minutes’

2. We can say also

3. In American English;

‘After’ is used instead of ‘Past’

‘Before’ is used instead of ‘To’

There are two common ways of telling the time. We usually say the minutes first and then The hours. However, We also say the hours first and then the minutes (Less formal).

Note 1: When saying the time ‘ the hours first and then the minutes’, 0 is pronounced like the letter”O” not “zero.”

Note 2: A o’clock has two hands. The short hand shows hours and the long hand shows minutes.

A.M ( AM/ a.m / am ) and P.M ( PM/ p.m / pm )

Since the 24-hour time zone is not used in English ( time is expressed with 12-hour time zones in english) the hours must be divided into two;

‘before noon’ and ‘after noon’.

For the hours before noon ( 00:01 – 12:00), we use a.m. (Ante meridiem)

Note : “a.m.” and “p.m.” markers can not be used with “past / to”

The Times in English

We can use dot or colon as a seperator between hours and minutes.

We use the structure “AT” with time when giving the time of a specific event.

Часы на английском. Время на английском языке. Как ответить который час или сколько время?

Существует два распространенных способа определения времени.

1) Сказать сначала сколько часов, а потом сколько минут. (Hour + Minutes)

2) Наоборот. Сначала сколько минут, а потом часов. (Minutes + PAST / TO + Hour)

Для минут от 1-ой до 30-ой мы используем PAST после минут.

Для минут от 31-ой до 59-ой мы используем TO после минут.

Когда 15 минут после кого-либо часа, нормально сказать: (a) quarter past

Когда 15 минут до кого-то часа, нормально сказать: a quarter to

Когда 30 минут после кого-либо часа, нормально сказать: half past

O’clock

Мы используем o’clock когда НЕТ минут.

Для полдня в английском есть три варианта.

Спросить который час

Общие формы вопросов, которые мы используем, чтобы спросить время которое сейчас это:

Более вежливый способ спросить о времени, особенно у незнакомца:

Обычные формы вопросов, которые мы используем, чтобы задать, в какое время произойдет конкретное событие::

Отвечать

Мы используем It is или It’s чтобы ответить на вопросы, которые задают для времени right now.

И мы используем AT + время при указании времени конкретного события.

Мы также можем использовать предметные местоимения в этих ответах.

AM и PM

В английском языке обычно не используют 24 формат времени как в России.

Время на английском языке

Время (time) можно назвать основой нашей жизни. Секунды (seconds), минуты (minutes), часы (hours), дни (days), недели (weeks), месяцы (months), годы (years) – это величины, которыми мы пользуемся, когда говорим о времени. В комментариях нас часто спрашивают: «Как сказать, сколько времени по-английски?» Поэтому мы решили привести примеры, как правильно говорить время на английском, схему на все случаи жизни и, конечно, занятный тест!

Как правильно говорить время по-английски

Итак, у вас спросили на английском: What time is it now? Для ответа, конечно, нужно знать числа. А еще вам пригодится наша удобная схема!

Разберем на примерах, как сказать время на английском языке.

It’s three o’clock sharp. – Ровно три часа.

It’s three o’clock on the dot. – Три часа минута в минуту.

It’s five past three. – «Пять минут после трех», то есть пять минут четвертого.

It’s five to three. – «Пять минут до трех», то есть без пяти три.

It’s twenty past eight. – «Двадцать после восьми», то есть двадцать минут девятого.

It’s twenty to eight. – «Двадцать до восьми», то есть без двадцати восемь.

It’s a quarter past six. – «Четверть после шести», то есть четверть седьмого или пятнадцать минут седьмого.

It’s a quarter to six. – «Четверть до шести», то есть без четверти шесть или без пятнадцати шесть.

It’s half past four. – «Половина после четырех», то есть половина пятого.

It’s about eight. – Около восьми.

It’s almost eight. – Почти восемь.

Что такое a.m. и p.m.

Вы, вероятно, встречали сокращения a.m. и p.m. рядом со временем в английском. Для чего они нужны? В сутках двадцать четыре часа. Время в первую половину дня (до полудня) в англоязычных странах принято называть a.m. (ante meridiem), а во вторую половину (после полудня) – p.m. (post meridiem). По-русски мы говорим «13 часов дня» или «6 утра», но на Западе скорее скажут 1 p.m. и 6 a.m. А все потому, что у них принят 12-часовой формат времени, а не 24-часовой, как у нас. Поэтому важно знать, что такое a.m. и p.m., ведь большая разница, если друг хочет прийти к вам в час ночи (1 a.m.) или час дня (1 p.m.) 🙂 Кстати, 12 дня (полдень) – это 12 p.m., а 12 a.m. – это 12 ночи (полночь). Вы всегда можете проверить себя с помощью этой статьи из Википедии.

И запомните, мы говорим It’s 3 a.m. или It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, но нельзя сказать it’s 3 o’clock a.m. То есть o’clock мы можем использовать только с in the morning (утра), in the afternoon (дня) или in the evening (вечера).

It’s six a.m. = It’s six o’clock in the morning. – Шесть утра.

А в следующем видео преподаватель с engvid.com расскажет вам, как правильно говорить о времени на английском языке.

В конце хочу открыть один маленький секрет. Конечно, важно знать, как правильно назвать время на английском, используя past и to, а также quarter и half, но люди стремятся к упрощению. Поэтому часто вместо длинной фразы It’s half past seven люди просто скажут It’s seven thirty. Да, чем проще, тем лучше. Но и классический вариант знать нужно, вдруг иностранец именно так и назовет вам время?

В завершении предлагаем вам тест и нашу универсальную схему под скачивание. Она поможет вам всегда правильно сказать, который час на английском языке.

How to say time in english

Wherever you find yourself in the world, much of your life will be governed by time: What time you wake up, when you need to leave for work, how long your lunch break is, what time the museum opens, making sure you arrive on time for your date. In short, unless you plan on moving to this Norwegian town, you really do need to know how to tell time. 😉

Telling time and making appointments may be easy in your own language and country, but what about when you visit or relocate to the United States? The United States tends to do things differently than the rest of the world, probably just because we can…and in some ways, this applies to telling time.

The good news is that as long as you know your numbers and some basic time-related vocabulary, learning to tell the time in English shouldn’t be too difficult.
Learning to tell the time in English is an invaluable step in your language-learning journey, and something you’ll never regret taking the time to figure out.

1. How Do You Ask the Time in English?

Before you learn about telling time, you should know how to ask for it. When first arriving in an English-speaking country, you’ll definitely be asking the time more than giving it! Here are some of the most common ways to ask someone what time it is.

Notice how the first five questions use polite phrases such as “excuse me,” and “please.” While it’s not always necessary to include these polite phrases (especially if you’re in a hurry and need the time right away!), people always appreciate you taking the time to be courteous. 🙂

Now that you’re familiar with asking about time in English, how do you say the time in English?

2. Talking About Hours

When telling time in American English, the majority of people go by the twelve-hour clock, though some are familiar with the twenty-four-hour clock (also called the Military Clock) as well. In this article, I’ll only be covering the twelve-hour format as this is the most widely used time format in the United States, and will help you learn how to tell time in English more than going over the 24-hour clock.

1- Twelve-Hour Clock Time

Before looking at the chart below, please note that in the United States, we sometimes add “o’clock” to the end of a time. This is considered a more formal and proper way of telling time, but more often than not, people drop the word “o’clock” and just say the number. In the chart, I wrote the example sentences both ways so that you can hear the difference yourself.

A.m. vs. P.m.

Because we use the twelve-hour clock format, it’s important that we have a way to know which set of twelve hours we’re talking about. (Otherwise, we would all be heading to meetings and dates twelve hours late or early!)

In the U.S., we do this by using “a.m.” (short for the Latin phrase ante meridiem, referring to any time before midday / noon) and “p.m.” (short for the Latin phrase post meridiem, referring to any time after midday / noon). These initials are put directly after the time whenever clarification is needed (so that you go get ice cream at midday and not midnight, unless that’s your thing). Here are some examples:

Keep in mind that 12 o’clock a.m. is midnight, and 12 o’clock p.m. is midday—these are the most commonly confused times for those just learning this time format.

This may sound confusing and unnecessarily difficult if you aren’t used to telling the time this way, but once you get the hang of it, it isn’t so bad. 😉

3. Talking About Minutes

An hour is made up of sixty “minutes,” and in the U.S., we give the exact time by saying the hour and then the minutes. Minutes, here, refer to how many minutes after the hour it is. In writing, this is written with the number of the hour followed by a colon, and then the number of minutes after the colon: [Hour]: [Minutes After].

For example, this may look like:

4. Hours Divided into Minutes

There are three common terms that we use to divide the hours into minutes in a simpler fashion: “quarter,” “third,” and “half.” This makes it much easier to quickly give someone the approximate time.

1- Quarter

In regards to time, people use the word “quarter” to represent 15 minutes (which is 1/4 of an hour, just as a quarter in U.S. money is 1/4 of a dollar). We use the phrase “quarter past” to say “fifteen minutes after” and “quarter to” to say “fifteen minutes until [or before].”

Here are some examples of this, with the time each one represents in parentheses:

2- Third

“Third” is not a common term used for time in the United States, but in case you do hear it used, it refers to 20 minutes (because 20 is 1/3 of 60). So “a third past” refers to twenty minutes after the hour, and “a third to” refers to twenty minutes before the hour.

Honestly, you don’t need to worry too much about this one, as it’s rarely used and doesn’t sound as natural as “quarter” and “half” in conversation.

3- Half

“Half” is a very common phrase you’ll hear when people talk about time in English. “Half” refers to 30 minutes, as that’s half an hour (“half an hour” or “half-hour” are phrases you’ll also hear often, simply meaning 30 minutes). As with the word “quarter,” people use the phrases “half past” and “half an hour to” to describe 30 minutes after or until an hour, respectively.

This is probably the easiest term to remember, as the time will always have a “thirty” in it. But be careful to always pay attention to the words “past” or “to.” Mixing these up can result in disaster!

5. How to Describe Time in English with General Time References

Knowing exact numeric times is important, but it’ll only get you so far. People in the United States often tell the time using general references, seeing as this is much faster and simpler when an exact time isn’t needed. Here’s a quick chart of the most commonly used references with their meanings and example sentences.

6. Time Adverbs

Adverbs are not the most fun thing to study, but in telling time, they are essential. With the adverbs I cover in this section, you can learn to tell time in a more general, easy-going way, and in a way that everyone will understand. But instead of telling the time, these adverbs describe the time.

1- Adverbs that Talk About the Present

These time adverbs all talk about something that is happening in the present time.

2- Adverbs that Place the Time

These time adverbs work to answer the questions: “When?” or “How long?” in terms of the current time.

7. Proverbs About Time in English

In the United States, there are several proverbs and sayings related to time. In this section, I’ll only go over the most common idioms related to time in English, but these should give you a pretty good foundation.

8. Conclusion: How EnglishClass101 Can Help You Master English

So, reader, do you understand how to tell time in English better now? Is there anything about telling time you’re still struggling with or don’t understand? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll be glad to help!

This article covered a lot of information about telling time in U.S. English, and it’s expected that you’ll need to go over some of this information again to fully process it. You’re a trooper for making it this far, and I hope you feel a little more comfortable telling the time now!

Keep in mind that when learning about telling time in English, practice is key. Practice as much as you can, and you won’t regret it.

As you continue to learn to tell time, you may also find it handy to check out my article on dates in U.S. English—you’ll be using time and dates together quite often, after all!

EnglishClass101.com has many more learning tools for you, including insightful blog posts on an array of topics and free English vocabulary lists for you to study. For a more personalized, one-on-one approach to learning English, you can also upgrade to Premium Plus to take advantage of our MyTeacher program!

English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, so the fact that you’ve come this far shows your determination and ability. Know that you can master English, and EnglishClass101 will be with you at each step of your journey!