{"id":175895,"date":"2023-07-11T00:26:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T04:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/how-to-tell-time-in-english\/"},"modified":"2025-04-02T07:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T11:15:18","slug":"how-to-tell-time-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/how-to-tell-time-in-english\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Tell Time in English, Step by Step"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone studies numbers<\/a> when they first start learning a new language, however\u00a0talking about time involves more than the numbers on the clock.<\/p>\n

Being able to ask questions and talk about time<\/a> is fundamental to speaking any language, and that’s also true if you’re a beginner learning English<\/a>.\u00a0Using this post, you will learn every English word and phrase<\/a> you need to tell time like a natural.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Learn to\u00a0Talk About the Time of Day<\/h2>\n

Numbers may tell you the exact time. However, many people will talk about the general<\/strong> time of day instead of being\u00a0specific. Here are words that you may hear and use when the exact time is not\u00a0very important.<\/p>\n

Noon<\/h3>\n

Noon means 12:00 p.m., at the very beginning of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

“What time are\u00a0we meeting this weekend?”
\n“Around noon<\/strong>, so we can sleep in.”<\/p>\n

Midday<\/h3>\n

This sometimes means the same thing as noon, because noon is in the middle of the day. Midday can also be any time between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is basically when people begin and finish eating lunch (meaning the middle of the day).<\/p>\n

“It is supposed to be very hot and sunny today at midday<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Afternoon<\/h3>\n

Because this phrase means “after noon passes” it is really versatile. This can be any time between noon\u00a0(12:00 p.m.)\u00a0and before the sun sets\u00a0(usually around 6:00 p.m.). If you do not live on the equator, the time of the sunset is always changing with the seasons. Sunset might be at 4:00 p.m.\u00a0in the winter and 9:00 p.m.\u00a0in the summer. This means that “afternoon” can be shorter or longer depending on the season.<\/p>\n

“I’m busy all afternoon<\/strong> so let’s have dinner together tonight.”<\/p>\n

Midnight<\/h3>\n

Midnight means the middle of the night. However, now many people use it to mean 12:00 in the morning <\/strong>(12:00 a.m.), when the next day begins.<\/p>\n

The phrase\u00a0midnight hours<\/strong>\u00a0refers to any time between 12:00 a.m. and<\/strong> 3:00 in the morning (3:00 a.m.)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“People kiss on New Years Eve at midnight<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Twilight<\/h3>\n

“Twilight” may just be a popular book and movie series to some people, but twilight is actually the time when the sun is barely<\/em> (very slightly or very little) lighting up the sky. This is usually right before the sun rises or right after the sun sets. The best way to remember this time is that it is in-between\u00a0when one day is ending and when the new day is starting, and the sky has a blue or purple tint<\/em> (slight color).<\/p>\n

“I love the way that the trees look at twilight<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Sunset and Sunrise<\/h3>\n

When the sun is\u00a0setting<\/em> (going down) or\u00a0rising<\/em> (going up) you can call these times\u00a0sunset\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0sunrise.<\/em>\u00a0Sunset is right before twilight, when the sky starts to turn pink and orange but is not dark yet.\u00a0Sunrise happens when the sun starts to come up in the morning (after morning twilight happens) and has the same orange and pink colors as sunset.<\/p>\n

“Let’s climb the mountain before sunrise<\/strong> so we can watch the sun come up.”
\n“I would rather leave in the afternoon and watch the sunset<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

After Dark<\/h3>\n

The time of day that is after dark is usually between 9:00 at night and 1:00 in the morning, or even later. It can also be a phrase for when\u00a0nightlife\u00a0<\/em>starts in a city, and people go out to drink or dance when the sun has set completely. A good way to remember this time is that if most people are asleep or going to sleep soon, it is after dark.<\/p>\n

“Have you ever been to\u00a0LA\u00a0after dark<\/strong>?”
\n“No, but I heard that it gets crazy.”<\/p>\n

The Crack of Dawn<\/h3>\n

The actual time for\u00a0the crack of dawn<\/em> is when you first start seeing light in the sky, but the sun is not visible yet. People often use this term for waking up before the sun, or just very early, around 4:00 and 6:00 in the morning.<\/p>\n

“If we want to beat the traffic tomorrow we will need to wake up at the crack of dawn<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

2. Say the Hours<\/h2>\n

When you tell the time in English, the hours always come first.\u00a0<\/b>If\u00a0you look at the clock and see that it is 3:00 p.m.,<\/strong> then you can say “It is three” or “The time is three o’clock.” It is that simple!<\/p>\n

Remember that when you\u00a0are talking about just the hour<\/strong>, and no minutes, then you will often use “o’clock.”<\/p>\n

3. Use O’clock<\/h2>\n

O’clock<\/em>\u00a0is shortened from an old phrase meaning of the clock,<\/em>\u00a0and is something that you can say after you tell what\u00a0hour\u00a0it is. However, you only use this when telling the hour. If you need to include minutes, then you cannot\u00a0say o’clock.<\/p>\n

“Sir, do you know what time it is now?”
\n“It is twelve o’clock<\/strong> in the afternoon.”<\/p>\n

You can do this with one o’clock (1:00) all the way to twelve o’clock (12:00).\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Know About Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night<\/h2>\n

There are only twelve hours<\/strong> written on a clock in any part of the English-speaking world. This may be true in the region where you live too. This is a very common system for telling time. However, that means it will be 6:00 twice\u00a0<\/strong>every day, once in the morning and once in the nighttime! So, how do you talk about 6:00 in the morning<\/strong> and 6:00 at night<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Quite simply, you can say exactly what time of day you are talking about. For example:<\/p>\n

Morning (from 12:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.): <\/strong><\/p>\n

1:00 a.m.\u00a0\u2014 It is one in the morning.
\n6:00 a.m. \u2014 It is six in the morning.
\n11:00 a.m. \u2014 It is eleven in the morning.<\/p>\n

Afternoon (from 12:00 p.m. to sunset): <\/strong><\/p>\n

1:00 p.m.\u00a0\u2014 It is one in the afternoon.
\n3:00 p.m. \u2014 It is three in the afternoon.
\n4:00 p.m. \u2014 It is four in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Evening (from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.):<\/strong><\/p>\n

6:00 p.m. \u2014 It is six in the evening.
\n8:00 p.m. \u2014 It is eight in the evening.<\/p>\n

Night (from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.):<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:00 p.m. \u2014 It is seven at night.
\n9:00 p.m. \u2014 It is ten at night.<\/p>\n

5. Use a.m. and p.m.<\/h2>\n

When you say something is at six o’clock you should let the person know if you mean a.m. (morning) or p.m. (night). These words are abbreviations for the Latin terms “ante meridiem” and “post meridiem,” which mean before midday and after midday.<\/p>\n

“I think I overslept, what time is it now?”
\n“It’s 12:30.”
\n“12:30\u00a0a.m.\u00a0<\/strong>or p.m.<\/strong>?”
\n“12:30 p.m.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

6. Describe the Exact Time in Minutes\u00a0<\/h2>\n

When you are telling the exact time<\/strong> in minutes, the way that you pronounce the time can be different. For example, when saying 3:05, 3:06, etc. you would pronounce it as “three oh five<\/strong>” or “three oh six,<\/strong>” similar to saying “o’clock.” This is because sometimes we call zero (0) “oh” in English, and saying “oh five” is faster and easier than saying “zero five.”<\/p>\n

All other minutes from 10 to 59 are pronounced normally (“ten” and “fifty-nine”). However, there are many other ways to talk about minutes other than saying the exact number.<\/p>\n

Half an Hour<\/h3>\n

Since an hour is 60 minutes, half of an hour<\/em> is 30 minutes. It does not have to be exactly 00:30 for you to use the term half an hour, you can use it for times between 25 and 35 minutes.<\/p>\n

“How much longer until 6?”
\n“About half an hour<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Quarter of an Hour<\/h3>\n

Since half an hour is thirty minutes, a quarter of an hour<\/em> is 15 minutes. You can use the term quarter along with past<\/strong> and until<\/strong> when telling the time. For example, 7:45 is “a<\/strong>\u00a0quarter till eight<\/strong>“\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a08:15 is “a quarter past\/after eight.”<\/strong>\u00a0We will talk more about these words, past and until, later in this article, so keep reading!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can still say “quarter”\u00a0if the number of minutes you have is between 12 and 17.<\/p>\n

“How much longer until 6?”<\/p>\n

“About a quarter of an hour<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

“What time is it right now?”
\n“A quar<\/strong>ter until nine<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

7. Use Military Time<\/h2>\n

If you do not\u00a0want to use a.m.\u00a0or p.m., you may want to go by what Americans call\u00a0military time.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

With this method of counting the hours in the day you start with 00:00 at midnight (12:00 a.m.)<\/strong>\u00a0and count up from there until 23:59 for 11:59 p.m<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

People will also pronounce this differently, so instead of saying “twenty three and zero\u00a0minutes” for 23:00, you would say “twenty three o’hundred.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“You need to report to the office\u00a0at fifteen hundred hours<\/strong> today. After that,f you can leave at seventeen o’fifty<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

8. Use Classic Phrases from History<\/h2>\n

When the Clock Tolls\/When the Bell Chimes<\/h3>\n

These are both older terms for telling time, because they are based off of large clock towers, such as Big Ben in England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both a toll<\/strong> and a chime<\/strong> mean to ring a bell. In churches and town centers (and sometimes in clocks found in houses), the bell would chime every new hour. So, there are times that you can say you will do something at the start of the next hour using these phrases. You will probably hear this more often in older films and books, and sometimes as a joke.<\/p>\n

“I’ll see you after the clock tolls<\/strong> one.”<\/p>\n

9. Be More General<\/h2>\n

Maybe you do not want to use a very exact time, like 7:56. However, you also do not\u00a0want to be too general by saying “evening” (between 5:00 and 8:00 at night). You can use the terms below to quickly tell around what time it is, without the need to be exact.<\/p>\n

Past and Till<\/h3>\n

You can use these along with any combination of words about time. Which one you use depends if you are counting forwards or backwards.<\/p>\n

6:30 can either be\u00a0half past 6<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>or it can be\u00a0thirty minutes till 7.<\/strong> (Till is the more casual way of saying until<\/em>, you can use either depending on the situation.)<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.\u00a0\u2014 Half past<\/strong> ten. \/ Thirty minutes till<\/strong> 11.<\/p>\n

11:30 a.m. \u2014 Half past<\/strong> eleven. \/ Thirty minutes to<\/strong> 12.<\/p>\n

Couple and Few<\/h3>\n

A\u00a0couple <\/strong>of anything generally means two<\/strong> of something. If you say that you have a couple minutes, it means about two or three minutes. A few usually means three to five of something, so a few minutes is a little bit longer than a couple. Still, they are usually used in the same way.<\/p>\n

Both\u00a0can\u00a0tell people that there is only a short amount of time left before something, or can make the time of day less specific. You can use couple and few with minutes or hours.<\/p>\n

“How long until we leave?”
\n“A few<\/strong> minutes.”<\/p>\n

“What time is it now?”
\n“A couple<\/strong> minutes past five.”<\/p>\n

Five, Ten or Twenty<\/h3>\n

When telling the general time people usually count in either fives, tens or twenties. For example, it is much more common<\/a> to hear a person say “five\u00a0past eight” than to hear “four past eight.”\u00a0If a person wants the exact time you can tell them, but a good rule is to count in groups of five since minutes are very short anyways.<\/p>\n

“Do you know what time it is now?”
\n“About ten<\/strong> minutes past midnight.”
\n“And when do the trains stop running?”
\n“At twenty<\/strong>\u00a0after twelve.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now you know all the different ways to answer the question “what time is it?” with ease. But don’t stop here\u2014use the information you learned in this post when you’re having conversations in English. The more you practice them, the better you’ll be at using them!<\/p>\n

Even if you don’t have anyone to practice with, hearing these words and phrases in use is an excellent way to learn them. You can find many video examples of these and other natural English use, on the FluentU program<\/a>.

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p> \r\n

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \"FluentU\r\n

\r\n