It is difficult to imagine a day in which no one around said a word on the topic of time and clocks. Clocks have long become a commonplace that appears daily in our speech. We ask each other for times, make appointments and rush to the cinema. In this article you will learn how many ways there are to call a watch in English and get acquainted with English about watches.

How to ask what time it is

What time is it (now)?- What time is it now?
Could you tell me the time, please?- Could you tell me what time it is?
Do you know what time it is?- Do you know what time it is?
What's the time?- How much time?

The answer to these questions will always start with It is.

It is one o'clock- hour
It is two o'clock- two hours
It is three o'clock- three hours
It is four o'clock- four hours
It is five o'clock- five o'clock
It is six o'clock-six hours
It is seven o'clock- seven o'clock
It is eight o'clock- eight hours
It is nine o'clock- nine o'clock
It is ten o'clock- ten o'clock
It is eleven o'clock- eleven o'clock
It is twelve o'clock- twelve hours

To avoid confusion in the future, it is worth immediately noting the difference between the values ​​of o’clock and hour. o’clock – ‘this is a mark on the dial of a clock, this word denotes even (without minutes) time values, and hour (hour) is a time duration of 60 minutes.

Seven o'clock- seven o'clock
Our dance lesson starts at 4 o’clock– Our dance lesson starts at four o’clock.
Our dance lesson lasts for three hours– Our dance lesson lasts three hours.

How to tell time in English

In English, there are several ways to tell time in English, using the 12 hour format and the 24 hour format. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

The first method is 12 hour format

In English-speaking countries, the 12-hour time format is most popular. At first, it may seem incomprehensible and even complicated to a Russian-speaking person, but it is very easy to understand. In a 12-hour format, the day is divided into two halves - from noon to midnight and from midnight to noon. There are several rules that are important to remember in order to correctly construct a sentence that mentions time.

The time from 00:00 to 12:00 is usually abbreviated a.m. (in the morning), and the time from 12:00 to 00:00 is designated by the abbreviation p.m. (in the evening).

I’ll meet you at 2:00 p.m.— I will meet you at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
I’ll meet you at 2:00 a.m.— I will meet you at 2 am.

In order to indicate time in hours and minutes, three prepositions are used: to (before), past (after), at (at). In American English, the preposition after can be used instead of past, and the preposition of, before, or till can be used instead of to.

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The preposition past is used when the minute hand is at a value from 6 to 12.

At five minutes past (after) ten- At five minutes past ten (or literally: five minutes after ten).

The preposition to is used when the minute hand is at a value from 6 to 12.

At five minutes to (before) ten- Five minutes to ten (or literally: five minutes to ten).

Fifteen minutes are indicated by the word quarter, and half by the word half.

At a quarter to (before) seven- Fifteen (a quarter) to seven.
At a quarter past (after) seven— Fifteen minutes (a quarter) past seven.
At a quarter past (after) nine— Fifteen minutes (a quarter) past nine.
At half past (after) three- At half past three.
At half past (after) two- At half past one.
At half past (after) seven- At half past six.
At half past (after) nine- At half past eight.

The word minutes is omitted when talking about a short time of five. If the number of minutes is not a multiple of five, you need to say minutes.

To tell the time accurate to minutes, you can omit the words past and to and simply name the digital values.

It's five fifty-seven— It’s five fifty-seven now.
It's nine forty-five— It’s nine forty-five now.
It's five oh (zero) five— It’s five zero five now.

But in order for you to be clearly understood, such use requires clarification of the time of day:

It’s five fifty-seven in the morning— It’s five fifty-seven in the morning.
It’s five fifty-seven in the evening— It’s five fifty-seven in the evening.

It’s nine forty-five in the morning— It’s nine forty-five in the morning.
It’s nine forty-five in the evening— It’s nine forty-five in the evening.

It’s five oh (zero) five in the morning— It’s five zero five in the morning.
It’s five oh (zero) five in the evening— It’s five o’clock five in the evening.

The second method is 24 hour format

Clocks in English can also be indicated using the 24 hour format. In English-speaking countries it is called military time or “War Time”, because... This time format is used in the army. Pronouncing the time in 24 hour format is not so easy, because hours and minutes are not separated and the number becomes a four-digit number.

Without minutes:

1:00 a.m. — 01:00 — 0100 Zero one hundred hours- one o'clock in the morning
1:00 p.m. — 13:00 — 1300 Thirteen hundred hours- one o'clock in the afternoon
7:00 a.m. — 07:00 — 0700 Zero seven hundred hours- seven o'clock in the morning
7:00 p.m. — 19:00 — 1900 Nineteen hundred hours- seven o'clock in the evening
11:00 a.m. — 11:00 — 1100 Eleven hundred hours- eleven o'clock in the morning
11:00 p.m. — 23: 00 — 2300 Twenty three hundred hours- eleven o'clock in the evening

With minutes:

If the value contains minutes, then the four-digit number must be divided into two and named each separately, adding the word hours to the value.

09:47 – 0947 – oh nine forty-seven hours
01:50 – 0150 – zero one fifty hours

Idioms about clocks and time

The English language has idioms for all occasions. Such a topic as a watch has managed to acquire many stable expressions. Knowing idioms will help you not have difficulties understanding texts or during dialogues. Memorize a few common expressions from our table to defuse the situation after being late for a meeting with English-speaking friends.

Idiom in English	Adapted translation into Russian	Literal translation into Russian
to have a hard time	experience difficulties	have a hard time
to give a hard time	make life difficult (for someone), reproach (someone)	give a difficult time
it's about time	during	it's about time
at all times	Always	at all times
all in good time	everything has its time	everything is in order
behind the times	outdated, backward	over time
to bide one's time	bide your time, wait for an opportunity	fight for (someone's) time
from time to time	from time to time	from time to time
live on borrowed time	live out your days	live the borrowed time
time is money	time is money	time is money
only time will tell	Time will show	only time will tell
time after time	time after time	time after time
too much time on my hands	too much free time	too much time on my hands
to run out of time	be late	run away from time
against the clock	hurry to do something in a timely manner	against the clock
Big Time	great success	big time
turn back the hands of time	turn back time	turn back the hands of time
lost time is never found again	you can't bring back what's lost	lost time can never be found
time heals all wounds	time heals	time heals all wounds
better late than never	better late than never	better late than never
in a flash	in the blink of an eye	flash
the darkest hour is just before the dawn		the darkest hour before the dawn

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Although we are taught to tell the time in school, most have never learned to do it properly. However, conversations about time in the modern world cannot be avoided. The secret is that you need to restructure your thinking and start thinking in English. Many people try not to mention time, or simplify, or avoid using the words quarter, half, past, to.

To avoid possible inaccuracies, sometimes they simply say:

7.05 - seven five or seven oh five
7.10 - seven ten
7.15 - seven fifteen

The reason is that many have not fully figured out how to correctly indicate time in English. Today we will talk about how native speakers indicate time, how to use the words to and past, and talk about many other subtleties that will help you speak about time without errors and understand your interlocutors.

The first word you need to remember is o"clock. O"clock- this is an even hour, without minutes:

7.00 - seven o'clock
9.00 - nine o'clock
11.00 - eleven o'clock

Sometimes, especially at the initial stage of study, words are confused o"clock And hour. Please remember the difference: o"clock- a mark on the watch dial, and hour- 60 minutes, indicates duration, duration:

The lesson starts at 6 o"clock. - The lesson starts at six o'clock.

The lesson lasts for two hours. - The lesson lasts two hours.

To indicate the correct time, you need to mentally divide the dial in half and assign names to the halves:

first half hour: past(after)
second half of the hour: to(to)

Next important word: half- half, half an hour. It is important to understand the difference in the perception of time in English, since in English we always say "half after" ( half past ) and called after what time:

2:30 - half past two - half past three (half after two)

10:30 - half past ten - half past ten (half after ten)

12:30 - half past twelve - half past twelve (half after twelve)

By the way, in colloquial speech the word past often falls out of expression half past:

The number of minutes in the first half of the hour must be indicated using the word past in this format: how long has passed + after how long:

9:05 - five past nine (five after nine)

9:10 - ten past nine (ten after nine)

9:20 - twenty past nine (twenty after nine)

9:25 - twenty-five past nine (twenty-five after nine)

Please note that if the number of minutes is a multiple of five then don't say a word minutes.

Another key word: (a) quarter - a quarter of an hour. When the time is given, they rarely say fifteen, as a rule, replace it with the word (a) quarter :

7:15 - quarter past seven (quarter after seven)

3:15 - quarter past three (quarter after three)

The last mark on the clock with the word past will half past. After half, another countdown begins, not after the last hour, but until the next hour, using the word to(to). The expression format is: how much left + until when:

5:35 - twenty five to six (twenty five to six)

5:40 - twenty to six (twenty to six)

5:45 - quarter to six (quarter to six)

5:50 - ten to six (ten to six)

5:55 - five to six (five to six)

If you need to specify number of minutes not divisible by five, the word is used minutes :

Three minutes past four - 4:03

Sixteen minutes past eight - 8:16

Twenty-two minutes to two - 1:38

Seven minutes to ten - 9:53

When indicating time, use the preposition

At half past four - at half past four (at half past four)

At three o"clock - at three o'clock

At quarter to seven - at fifteen minutes to seven (at a quarter to seven)

Twelve o'clock is usually called that - twelve o'clock, but we can say:

at noon- at noon
at midday- at noon
at midnight- at midnight

In everyday communication, they prefer to call time by an ordinary clock, which has twelve o'clock. To distinguish night from day, use abbreviations a.m. And p.m. As soon as they are not interpreted by students! In fact, both abbreviations come from Latin:

a.m. - ante meridiem- before noon, means the time from midnight to noon (night and morning)

p.m. - post meridiem- afternoon, time from noon to midnight (day and evening).

These abbreviations can be heard in conversation when it is necessary to clarify what time of day is meant. Also, in American English () is sometimes replaced by past on after, a to on of:

Five past six-five after six - five minutes past six (five after six)

Twenty to eight - twenty of eight - twenty minutes to eight (twenty before eight)

Time according to electronic clock ( digital clock or twenty-four hour clock), in which time is indicated by numbers from 0 hours to 24 hours, is indicated differently. This system is usually used in schedules, schedules, programs, official announcements, and military orders.

The system of indicating time using a 24-hour clock, which we will now talk about, is also called " Military time" ("War time"), because it is used in the army. It is so common to see these numbers on the airport display board, in the train schedule, it is immediately clear what time is meant, however, "pronouncing" the time using an electronic clock is not an easy task. Clocks and the minutes are not divided among themselves, so we are dealing with a four-digit figure.
For comparison, we offer you a table indicating the time according to the 12-hour system and the 24-hour system:

12 Hour Clock	24 Hour Clock
	0100 Zero one hundred hours
	0200 Zero two hundred hours
	0300 Zero three hundred hours
	0400 Zero four hundred hours
	0500 Zero five hundred hours
	0600 Zero six hundred hours
	0700 Zero seven hundred hours
	0800 Zero eight hundred hours
	0900 Zero nine hundred hours
	1000 Ten hundred hours
	1100 Eleven hundred hours
	1200 Twelve hundred hours
	1300 Thirteen hundred hours
	1400 Fourteen hundred hours
	1500 Fifteen hundred hours
	1600 Sixteen hundred hours
	1700 Seventeen hundred hours
	1800 Eighteen hundred hours
	1900 Nineteen hundred hours
	2000 Twenty hundred hours
	2100 Twenty-one hundred hours
	2200 Twenty-two hundred hours
	2300 Twenty-three hundred hours
	2400 Twenty-four hundred hours

As you can see, if the hour is “even”, without minutes, then the first digit is called and the words are added hundred hours. If minutes are present, then the four-digit digit is divided by two and each is called separately + hours:

0945 - oh nine forty-five hours
1126 - eleven twenty-six hours
1757 - seventeen fifty-seven hours
0130 - zero one thirty hours

This notation of time is rarely used in everyday conversation; time is usually indicated in 12-hour format.

To find out the time, they usually ask:

What time is it?
Have you got the time?
What's the time?
Could you tell me the time, please?

All of the above questions are translated the same way: What time is it? How much time? The last question sounds the most polite: Can you tell me what time it is?

Remember the rules for telling time in English so that you can always answer these questions. Good luck to you!

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Almost immediately after mastering basic grammar and vocabulary, they move on to the topic “”. It would seem that what could be difficult? But even here there are many snags, since some points differ from how we are used to calling time in our native language.

Features of the topic “how to say time in English”

Let's see, how to say time in English Right. It is important to pay attention to the fact that English speakers do not have 17.00, 20.00, 21.00 and so on. Their hours are quite limited: from 00.00 to 12.00. In order for the interlocutor to understand everything correctly, they clarify the part of the day. That is, you need to add to the phrase in the morning or in the evening. The most commonly used abbreviations in this case are: a.m.(for the first half of the day) and p.m.(for the afternoon). That is, it will be seven in the morning in English 7 o'clock in the morning, and seven in the evening - 7 o'clock in the evening . When speaking in English, you need to completely forget that 19.00 exists in nature.

How to say time in English

Now let's expand our vocabulary so that we no longer have to think about how to tell time correctly in English. Here are some words that will definitely come in handy:

half– half (30 minutes)

quarter– quarter (15 minutes)

to– to (for phrases like “15 minutes to go”)

past- after

sharp– exactly

Now we conditionally divide the watch dial into two parts. In order to say 5, 10 or more minutes of an hour, you cannot do without a pretext past. If there are a certain number of minutes left before the round number, then we will need a preposition from the left side of the dial - to.

Examples:

14.00 – two o'clock sharp(exactly two hours)

14.05 – five minutes past two (five minutes past two)

14.10 – ten minutes past two (ten minutes past three)

14.15 – a quarter past two (fifteen minutes past three)

14.20 – twenty minutes past two (twenty minutes past three)

14.25 – twenty-five minutes past two (twenty-five minutes past three)

14.30 – half past two (half past two)

14.35 – twenty-five minutes to three (thirty-five minutes past three)

14.40 – twenty minutes to three (twenty minutes to three)

14.45 – a quarter to three (fifteen to three)

14.50 – ten minutes to three (ten to three)

Time is something we face every day. For example, when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is look at the clock.

How often during the day do you ask the question: “What time is it?” How many times do you answer? I think more than once.

Therefore, it is very important to be able to and know how to correctly ask the time and say in English: “What time is it?”

• What do am and pm mean in English time and how to understand them?

How to ask the time in English?

There are a few basic phrases you can use to ask what time it is in English. The simplest and most common:

What time is it?
How much time?

What time is it now?
What time is it now?

What is the time?
What time?

It is worth noting that you can ask these questions to friends, family members, colleagues and other acquaintances. When you address strangers, do not forget about polite forms. "Excuse me..."(sorry) - this is how you should start your question and/or add it at the end please(Please).

Excuse me, what time is it?
Excuse me, what time is it?

What's the time, please?
Tell me please, what time is it?

Excuse me, what time is it now, please?
Excuse me, please tell me what time is it now?

These were the most common options for asking the time in English, so you can safely use them in life. There are several more ways.

Could you tell me the time, please?
Could you tell me the time please?

Do you know what time it is now?
Do you know what time it is now?

Could you tell me the right time, please?
Could you tell me the exact time please?

Bonus! Do you want to learn to speak English? in Moscow and find out how to start speaking English in 1 month using the ESL method!

How to say time correctly in English?

How can you tell what time it is in English? You have to be careful here. After all, in English time is spoken completely differently than in Russian.

The answer to the question about time goes like this:

What time is it?
It is two o'clock.
Two hours.

What time is it?
It is seven o'clock.
Seven o'clock.

What time is it?
It is four o'clock.
Four o'clock.

But how do you understand what time of day you mean? For this we can use these words:

In the morning- in the morning;
In the afternoon- during the day;
In the evening- In the evening;
At night- at night.

It is eight o'clock in the evening.
Eight o'clock in the evening.

It is three o'clock in the afternoon.
Three o'clock in the afternoon.

It is one o'clock at night.
It's one o'clock in the morning.

The most commonly used symbols to indicate the time of day in English are: AM and PM. Let me note that in official written speech we use only these designations.

What do AM and PM mean in English tense and how to understand them?

We are used to having 24 hours in a day. “It’s 22:00,” we can answer in Russian, meaning that it’s ten o’clock in the evening. The US, UK and many other countries use a 12-hour clock. According to him, the day is divided into two halves of 12 hours: before noon (AM) And afternoon (PM).

This is not entirely familiar to us, which is why most people have difficulties here. Now let’s break everything down so you can understand it.

What does A stand for?M?

A.M.(from the Latin ante meridiem - before noon) - this interval begins at 12 o'clock at night (midnight) and ends at 12 o'clock in the afternoon (noon). That is, it lasts from 00:00 to 12:00.

This is how we tell time using AM:

It's two AM.
Two o'clock in the morning. (2:00)

It's ten AM.
Ten in the morning. (10:00)

It's five AM.
Five in the morning. (5:00)

Please note that at the end of the sentence we are already don't set o"clock. There is no need to use it with AM and PM.

What does PM stand for??

PM(from the Latin post meridiem - after noon) - this interval begins at 12 noon (noon) and ends at 12 midnight (midnight). That is, it lasts from 12:00 to 00:00.

This is how we tell time using PM:

It's two P.M.
Two o'clock in the afternoon. (14:00)

It's ten P.M.
Ten pm. (22:00)

It's five P.M.
Five in the evening. (17:00)

How to say minutes in English?

How to call time in English with minutes? After all, we almost always speak both hours and minutes. Here are two ways:

1. We say numbers.

This is the simplest and most understandable way. In this case, we call only 2 numbers. The first digit indicates hours, and the second - minutes.

It's eight twenty two.
Eight hours twenty two minutes. (8:22)

It's one forty.
It's one forty. (13:40)

It's two sixteen.
Two hours and sixteen minutes. (2:16)

2. We use the prepositions to and past.

In this case we indicate the hour and minutes. Since this method is more common, let's look at it in more detail.

Use of past

Past(after) is used to show how much minutes PASSED after any hour. For example, after 13:00, 19:00, 23:00, etc.

We use this preposition only when there is a moment the hand is on the right half of the clock, that is, it shows minutes from 1 to 30.

Look at the examples and everything will become clear right away. Pay attention to the translation!

It's thirteen minutes past seven. (7:13)
Thirteen minutes eighth.

It's twenty five minutes past one. (1:25)
Twenty five minutes second.

It's ten minutes past nine. (9:10)
Ten minutes tenth.

How do we translate into Russian?

Russian logic is slightly different from English, and this is worth paying attention to when translating. Let's look at an example.

Use of to

To(to) used to show how many minutes are left before a certain hour. For example, until 13:00, 19:00, 23:00, etc.

We use this preposition if the minute hand is in the left half, that is from 31 to 59 minutes.

For example, if we see 5:53 on the clock, then we say that there are 7 minutes left until 6 o'clock.

It's twelve to five . (4:48)
It's twelve minutes to five.

It's five minutes to nine . (8:55)
Five minutes to nine.

It's ten minutes to three. (2:50)
Ten minutes to three.

And this is how it is translated into Russian. Let's look at the Russian/English analogy.

How to say half of such and such an hour (30 minutes)?

In Russian we often say not thirty minutes first, and floor first. We can say this in English too, using the word half (half). This is a word we can use only with the preposition past. By the way, pay attention to the translation! The British have a very simple logic - they simply look at what the clock is showing now and call that particular hour.

It's half past five . (5:30)
Half past six. (Literally: half after five.)

It's half past two . (2:30)
Half past two. (Literally: half after two .)

It's half past six . (6:30)
Half past six. (Literally: half after six .)

Why do we use past? Because “to”, that is, “before” for us begins at 31 minutes, and 30 minutes is included in the past zone. The British believe that 30 minutes is still closer to the hour that is ticking. But from the 31st minute everything changes...

How do you say quarter of an hour (15 minutes)?

In English (as in Russian) we use the word quarter - quarter (15 minutes). Quarter we can use both with to, so with past.

If we're talking about the beginning of the hour(15 minutes on the clock), then use past. That is, we show that 15 minutes have passed after some hour.

It's quarter past three. (3:15)
Quarter past four. (Literally: quarter after three .)

It's quarter past seven. (7:15)
Quarter past eight. (Literally: quarter after seven .)

It's quarter past eleven . (11:15)
Quarter past eleven. (Literally: quarter after eleven .)

If we're talking about end of the hour(45 minutes on the clock), then use to.

In this case, we show that there are 15 minutes left until a certain hour. That is, 45 minutes have already passed.

It's quarter to three. (2:45)
A quarter to three. (Literally: quarter up to three.)

It's quarter to seven. (6:45)
A quarter to seven. (Literally: quarter up to seven.)

It's quarter to two. (1:45)
It's a quarter to two. (Literally: quarter up to two.)

What to do now? To easily name and say the time, you need to develop a skill, that is, bring it to automaticity. Now, when you see a clock, always think (or better yet, say) how it will be in English. Start with the task below.

Reinforcement task

In the meantime, let’s practice, translate into English:

What time is it now?

Excuse me, what time is it now?

It's 5 minutes past six (It's 5 minutes after 6).

It's 15 minutes past two.

It's now 10 minutes to eight in the morning.

It's 20 minutes past five in the afternoon.

It's half past three now.

Write your answers in the comments, and in 3 days I will post the correct options and you can test yourself.