Telling the time in English: how to tell the time
Key questions:
- What time is it?
- What time do you have?
- Do you know what time it is?
- Have you got the time?
- What time are we at?
- What hour do you have?
- How are we doing for time?
In English, time is always singular. for example:
- It is 1 o´clock.
- It is 2 o´clock.
- It is 3 o´clock.
- It is 4 o´clock.
- It is 5 o´clock.
- It is 6 o´clock.
- It is 7 o´clock.
- It is 8 o´clock.
- It is 9 o´clock.
- It is 10 o´clock.
- It is 11 o´clock.
- It is 12 o´clock.
Key words: British English
| Time | Key words | Example |
| :00 | … o´clock | It is 8 o’clock. |
| :15 | quatre past … | It is quatre past four. |
| :30 | half past … | It is half past six. |
| :45 | quatre to … | It is quatre to nine. |
Key words: American English
| Time | Key words | Example |
| :00 | … o´clock | It is three o´clock. |
| :15 | … fifteen | It is twelve-fifteen. |
| :30 | … thirty | It is eight-thirty. |
| :45 | … forty-five | It is six-forty-five. |
More specific times include:
| :05 | five past … |
| :10 | ten past … |
| :20 | twenty past … |
| :25 | twenty-five past … |
| :35 | twenty-five to … |
| :40 | twenty to … |
| :50 | ten to … |
| :55 | five to … |
We also have the 24-hour clock. This is used for timetables and in the military.
It is 20:15 – it is twenty-fifteen.
It is 14:20 – it is fourteen-twenty.
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