Indicate the time in English. How to tell time correctly in English. How to ask the time in English

Although we are taught to tell the time in school, most have never learned to do it properly. However, talk about time in modern world can't 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 the time on English language. 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 on initial stage studying, confusing words 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(before)

Following important word: half- half, half an hour. It is important to understand the difference in the perception of time in English, since in English they 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 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 keyword: (a) quarter - a quarter of an hour. When they tell the time, 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(before). 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 by electronic watch (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 board, in the train schedule, it is immediately clear what time is meant, but “pronouncing” the time using an electronic clock is not an easy task. Hours and minutes are not separated from each other , so we are dealing with a four-digit number.
For comparison, we offer you a table indicating the time according to the 12-hour system and the 24-hour system:

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 now? How much time? Last question sounds 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. I wish you success!

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Anyone interested in learning English has had to deal with strange notations. p. m. And a. m, and in general, wherever time is mentioned, for some reason only 12 hour format. Probably, for us living on a 24-hour schedule, this is really strange, but if you understand this phenomenon, everything will fall into place.

So, let's start with the fact that in Western countries accepted 12-hour time measurement system. The idea is that the 24 hours that make up a day are divided into two 12-hour intervals, which are designated as a. m.(Latin Ante meridiem - “before noon”) and p. m.(Latin Post meridiem - “after noon”). This format is predominant in the USA, Canada, Australia, France, Turkey and some other countries.

This tradition has ancient roots, since the 12-hour clock was used in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians used sunnier hours for use during the day, and at night, a water clock or clepsydra was used (translated from Greek - “water thief”). The Romans also used a 12-hour clock.

You need to remember that time from 12 noon to 12 midnight denoted by two letters p. m. (read: pi em).

For example:

3:30 p.m. m. – Half past four (day)

6:15 p.m. m. – Fifteen minutes past seven (pm)

8:40 p.m. m. – Twenty minutes to nine (pm)

Time from 12 midnight to 12 noon denoted by two letters a. m.

For example:

1.00 a.m. m.– One o’clock in the morning

7:45 a.m. m. – Fifteen to eight (am)

But, native speakers for convenience in spoken English instead of a. m. and p. m, after the numbers indicating the time, add:

in the morning(in the morning) - (from 01.00 to 11.59)

in the afternoon(afternoon) - (from 12.00 to 16.59)

in the evening(from approximately 17:00 to 21:59)

at night(in the evening after 22:00 and before 00:59).

But as I said, if formal English is used, then it is usually used a. m. And p. m.

For example:

19:45 – fifteen till eight in the morning

2:00 – two o’clock in the morning

(Remember, if you want to say the time in hours without specifying minutes, then we say the number of hours and add – o’clock, as in the example above).

14:05 – two zero five in the afternoon

21:30 – nine thirty at night

And now the basic rules:

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 two)

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

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

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

14.30 – half past two (half past three)

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

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)

AM andPM - what is it and what is it about?

In English, date and time symbols somewhat different from what we are used to. If you need English for work and business, then you need to clearly know how dates and times are indicated in English, so as not to come to a meeting at 8 am, and not at 8 pm, for example.

But even if you are learning English to communicate with friends, just for yourself, for travel, it also won’t hurt you to navigate the English date and time notations, if only so as not to miss your plane.

Dates in English

First of all, let's decide on the dates. In English, a date - any day of any month, as in Russian, is denoted by ordinal numbers.

But unlike Russian, There are two ways to write and pronounce the date in English.

For example:

• The date “ninth of May” is 9th of May (pronounced the ninth of May), or May, 9 (pronounced May the ninth).
• The date “December thirtieth” is 30th December, December, 30 (the thirtieth December or December the thirtieth).

The situation is more complicated with the designation of the year. If the numbers in writing are Arabic in both our language and in English, and we are not mistaken here, then you need to become familiar with the rules for pronunciating dates by year.

In English, all years before 2000 are pronounced one at a time. simple rule. The four-digit number of the year is divided into two two-digit ones and pronounced like this:

1955 - we pronounce nineteen first, and then fifty-five - nineteen fifty five.

With the year two thousand the situation is somewhat different. So, we pronounce the year 2000 as two thousand. All subsequent years until 2010 are pronounced as two thousand and ten (and one, and two, and three and so on). But since the eleventh year we have been speaking in the usual way - two thousand eleven.

So, the date December 17, 2013 in English will sound like this – on the seventeenth of December twenty thirteen. If you just want to say in 2013, then you need to use the preposition “in” - in twenty thirteen.

If with dates everything is more or less easy and understandable, then with the designation of time everything is much more complicated and confusing. However, you can figure it out.

Time in English

How to ask the time correctly and how to answer correctly if they ask you?

What time is it now? – What time is it? Or What's the time?

What time is it now? – What is the time now?

Could you tell me what time it is? – Could you please tell me the time?

At what time? – At what time?

In English, time is divided into two parts - before and after noon:

• the time from 0 a.m. to 12 p.m. is designated “a.m.” - Ante Meridiem (before noon);
• after 12 noon and until 0 p.m. (Post Meridiem - after noon).

Noon or 12 o'clock in the afternoon is pronounced as midday or noon, and is designated as 12 p.m.

Midnight – midnight or… noon, 12 a.m.

The English are so mysterious - they have noon at midnight, and noon at noon too.

But these are not all surprises.

If we say fifteen minutes to eight or fifteen minutes to eight, then the British say:

Quarter to eight or quarter past seven - a quarter to eight, a quarter to eight (literally - a quarter after seven).

Half an hour is indicated by the word “half” - half past seven (half past eight).

If the time is exactly six o'clock in the evening - exactly 6 p.m.

In addition to a.m. and p.m., especially in colloquial speech, you can hear the following designation of time:

• Its 10 in the morning – ten in the morning; at 9 in the morning – at 9 am;
• Its 6 in the evening - six in the evening; at 5 in the evening - at 5 pm.

If you asked someone on the street what time it was, you might hear the following answer:

It’s 11 o’clock – 11 o’clock. Obviously, you understand - morning or evening.

Or this: it’s about 11 - about eleven; almost 11 (o’clock) – almost eleven.

The main principle by which time is indicated in English:

• everything before the first half of the hour is pronounced with the preposition “past” - 5, 10, 20, 25 minutes of the second - 5 past one (a.m. or p.m.), that is, five minutes after the hour, etc.;
• everything in the second half is with the preposition “to”, pronounced 20 minutes to 3 (a.m. or p.m.), literally - twenty minutes to three or, as we say, twenty minutes to three.

Having remembered all these subtleties, you will probably never be late for a meeting with partners or friends, having mixed up the time.