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;

Answering the questions: ( How do we say what time is ? )

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.

[table]
Time | | Formal | Less Formal
01:00 | it is | one o’clock | one
02:00 | it is | two o’clock | two
03:00 | it is | three o’clock | three
04:00 | it is | four o’clock | four
05:00 | it is | five o’clock | five
06:00 | it is | six o’clock | six
07:00 | it is | seven o’clock | seven
08:00 | it is | eight o’clock | eight
09:00 | it is | nine o’clock | nine
10:00 | it is | ten o’clock | ten
11:00 | it is | eleven o’clock | eleven
12:00 | it is | twelve o’clock | twelve
[/table]

At Half Hours: ( 30 minutes passed the hour)

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

FORM OF THE ANSWER:

It is half past……. .

[table]
Time | | Formal | Less Formal
01:30 | it is | half past one | one thirty
02:30 | it is | half past two | two thirty
03:30 | it is | half past three | three thirty
04:30 | it is | half past four | four thirty
05:30 | it is | half past five | five thirty
06:30 | it is | half past six | six thirty
07:30 | it is | half past seven | seven thirty
08:30 | it is | half past eight | eight thirty
09:30 | it is | half past nine | nine thirty
10:30 | it is | half past ten | ten thirty
11:30 | it is | half past eleven | eleven thirty
12:30 | it is | half past twelwe | twelve thirty
[/table]

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:    

It is (a) quarter past ………. . ( 15 minutes after the hour )
It is(a) quarter to ………  .      ( 15 minutes before the hour)

[table]
Time | | Formal | Less Formal
12:45/01:15 | it is | (a) quarter past one /(a) quarter to one |  twelve forty-five / one fifteen
01:45/02:15 | it is | (a) quarter past two /(a) quarter to two |  one forty-five / two fifteen
02:45/03:15 | it is | (a) quarter past three /(a) quarter to three |  two forty-five / three fifteen
03:45/04:15 | it is | (a) quarter past four /(a) quarter to four |  three forty-five / four fifteen
04:45/05:15 | it is | (a) quarter past five /(a) quarter to five |  four forty-five / five fifteen
05:45/06:15 | it is | (a) quarter past six /(a) quarter to six |  five forty-five / six fifteen
06:45/07:15 | it is | (a) quarter past seven /(a) quarter to seven | six forty-five / seven fifteen
07:45/08:15 | it is | (a) quarter past eight /(a) quarter to eight | seven forty-five / eight fifteen
08:45/09:15 | it is | (a) quarter past nine /(a) quarter to nine |  eight forty-five / nine fifteen
09:45/10:15 | it is | (a) quarter past ten /(a) quarter to ten |  nine forty-five / ten fifteen
10:45/11:15 | it is | (a) quarter past eleven /(a) quarter to eleven |  ten forty-five / eleven fifteen
11:45/12:15 | it is | (a) quarter past twelve /(a) quarter to twelve |  eleven forty-five / twelve fifteen
[/table]

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

• ‘a guarter past…..’ instead of  ‘fifteen past … ( 15 minutes past….)’
• ‘a quarter to….’ instead of  ‘fifteen to…. ( 15 minutes to….)’
• ‘half past…..’ instead of  ‘thirty  past….( 30 minutes past….)’

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)

For the hours after noon ( 12:01 -24:00 ), we use p.m. (Post meridiem)

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

The Times in English

[table]
Time | Hours
morning | 00:01 – 11:59
noon or midday | 12:00
afternoon | 12:01 – 18:00
evening | 18:01 – 22:00
night | 22:01 – 24:00
midnight | 24:00 / 00:00
a.m. – (the time between midnight and noon) | 00:01 – 12:00
p.m. – (the time after noon ( not afternoon )) |12:01 – 24:00
[/table]

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.