Telling time in English

Telling time in English is an essential skill that combines numbers, specific phrases, and conventions to communicate the hour, minutes, and sometimes seconds. Whether you’re using a 12-hour clock with AM/PM or the 24-hour format common in formal settings, understanding the structure and common expressions makes it easy to ask for and tell the time accurately. This guide will walk you through the basics, from exact hours to approximate times, along with polite and casual ways to ask what time it is.

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.

In summary

Telling time in English involves stating the hour (1-12 or 1-24), followed by minutes (0-59), and occasionally seconds, using phrases like “o’clock,” “past,” “to,” “quarter,” and “half.” For example, “It’s ten past three” means 3:10, while “It’s a quarter to eight” means 7:45. AM and PM distinguish morning from evening in the 12-hour clock, while the 24-hour clock (e.g., 15:30 for 3:30 PM) is used in formal contexts. You can ask the time formally (“Could you please tell me the time?”) or informally (“What time is it?”). The system is versatile, allowing for both precision and approximations like “just after eight” in casual conversation.

Learn more

• Prepositions of time
• Vocabulary for time in English