Telling Time In Englis

There are two common ways of telling the time.

1) Say the hour first and then the minutes. (Hour + Minutes)

6:25 - six twenty-five

8:05 - eight O-five (Obs.: For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the “0” as “oh”.)

9:11 - nine eleven

2) Say the minutes first and then the hour. (Minutes + PAST / TO + Hour)

- For minutes 1-30 we use PAST after the minutes.

- For minutes 31-59 we use TO after the minutes.

2:35 - twenty-five to three

11:20 - twenty past eleven

4:18 - eighteen past four

8:51 - nine to nine

When it is 15 minutes past the hour we normally say: a quarter past

7:15 - a quarter past seven

When it is 15 minutes before the hour we normally say: a quarter to

12:45 - a quarter to one

When it is 30 minutes past the hour we normally say: half past

3:30 - half past three (but we can also say three-thirty)

Note: Use o'clock only at the full hour.

Example: 7:00 - seven o'clock

12:00

For 12:00 there you use:

twelve o'clock

midday = noon

midnight

AM vs. PM

We don't normally use the 24-hour clock in English.

We use a.m. (am) for the morning and p.m. (pm) for the afternoon and night.

3am = Three o'clock in the morning.

3pm = Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Asking for the Time

The common question forms we use to ask for the time right now are:

What time is it? or What is the time?

The common question forms we use to ask at what time a specific event will happen are:

What time...?

When...?

What time does the flight to New York leave?

When does the bus arrive from London?

When does the concert begin?

Giving the Time

We use It is or It's to respond to the questions that ask for the time right now.

It is half past five (5:30)

It's ten to twelve (11:50)

We use the structure AT