Telling time in English

How to tell time in English

Telling time in English involves a few simple steps and conventions. Here’s how you can do it:

Basic structure

• Hours: Use numbers from 1 to 12 (or 24 in 24-hour clock format).
• Minutes: Use numbers from 0 to 59.
• Seconds: Use numbers from 0 to 59 (Typically only stated in a few situations such as in some sort of race).

Common phrases

1. O’clock
   • For exact hours: “It’s one o’clock,” “It’s three o’clock.”
2. Minutes past the hour
   • From 1 to 30 minutes past the hour, you say the number of minutes followed by “past” or “after”:
     • “It’s ten past three,” or “It’s ten after three.”
     • “It’s twenty-five past seven.”
3. Minutes to the next hour
   • From 31 to 59 minutes past the hour, you count down to the next hour using “to” or “till”:
     • “It’s ten to four,” or “It’s ten till four” (meaning 3:50).
     • “It’s twenty-five to nine” (meaning 8:35).
4. Quarter and half hours
   • “Quarter past” for 15 minutes after the hour: “It’s a quarter past four.”
   • “Half past” for 30 minutes after the hour: “It’s half past six.”
   • “Quarter to” for 15 minutes before the next hour: “It’s a quarter to eight” (meaning 7:45).
5. Using AM and PM: (note there are several commonly used ways in writing for these: AM/PM, A.M./P.M., am/pm, and a.m./p.m.)
   • To clarify between morning and night:
     • “It’s 7:30 AM” (morning).
     • “It’s 7:30 PM” (evening).
6. 24-Hour clock
   • Used in some contexts like military time or public transport schedules:
     • “It’s 15:30” (3:30 PM in 12-hour format).

Examples:

• “What time is it?”
  • “It’s five past two.” (2:05)
  • “It’s a quarter to ten.” (9:45)
  • “It’s eight-thirty AM.” (8:30 in the morning)

Asking the time in English

Formal

• “Could you please tell me the time?”
• “What time is it?”
• “Do you happen to know the time?”

Informal

• “What time is it?” (Most common)
• “Do you have the time?”
• “Know what time it is?”

Other options

• “Excuse me, what time is it?” (Polite)
• “Could you give me the time?”

Tips

• In informal speech, you might hear “It’s just after eight” or “It’s almost nine” instead of exact times.
• When times are not exact, approximations are common: “It’s about ten past three.”

This system provides a flexible way to communicate time, allowing for both precise and approximate descriptions depending on the situation.

Learn more:

• Prepositions of time
• Vocabulary for time in English

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