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Speak English | TELL TIME correctly in English – everything you need to know!

Speak English  | TELL TIME correctly in English – everything you need to know!

TELL TIME correctly in English – everything you need to know!

Hi everyone! Today’s blog is an English speaking lesson and we are going to focus on how to tell time correctly in English. Everything is broken down simply for you, and I’ve included my YouTube video lesson for those who prefer to lean by watching videos. Let’s get started!

There are many different ways to ‘tell time’ in English.

Every hour, you have o’clock:

01:00 one o’clock

02:00 two o’clock

03:00 three o’clock

04:00 four o’clock

05:00 five o’clock

06:00 six o’clock

07:00 seven o’clock

08:00 eight o’clock

09:00 nine o’clock

10:00 ten o’clock

11:00 eleven o’clock

12:00 twelve o’clock

If you need to be specific, you can add AM or PM.

05:00 = Now it is 5 PM. / Now it is 3 PM

In English, when we speak about time, we always say: ‘It is…’

A: What time is it?
B: It is 6 o’clock.

A: What time is it?
B: It is 4 AM.

Contracted: It’s…


For 12:00 in the afternoon – we can simply say ‘noon’.

I always eat lunch at  noon.
I always eat lunch at 12:00.

For 12:00 in the night – we can say ‘midnight

I slept around midnight.
I slept around 12:00.

 


Telling time more specifically…

You can always read the time from left to right (→):

01:05 It’s one oh five.
(With time, we pronounce the (0) zero, ‘oh’)

01:10 It’s one ten.

01:15 It’s one fifteen.

01: 20 It’s one twenty.

01:25 It’s one twenty-five.

01:30 It’s one thirty.

01:35 It’s one thirty-five.

01:40 It’s one forty.

01:45 It’s one forty-five.

01:50 It’s one fifty.

01:55 It’s one fifty-five.

Another way…

Look at this image:

telling time

From the minutes 01 – 30 we say ‘past’.

From the minutes 31 – 59 we say ‘to

15 on the right is – quarter past

15 on the left is – quarter to

For example:

08:00 eight o’clock

08:15 quarter past eight

08:30 half past eight

08:45 quarter to nine

11:00 eleven o’clock

11:15 quarter past eleven

11:30 half past eleven

11:45 quarter to twelve

We would say the same thing for 24-hour clocks:

20:00 eight o’clock

20:15 quarter past eight

20:30 half past eight

20:45 quarter to nine

23:00 eleven o’clock

23:15 quarter past eleven

23:30 half past eleven

23:45 quarter to twelve

Only in military contexts would we actually read the numbers:

23:00 twenty-three hundred 

23:15 twenty-three fifteen

23:30 twenty-three thirty

23:45 twenty-three forty-five


How do we ASK for the time?

Here are a few possibilities: 

A: What time is it?
B: It is 3:00.

A: Do you have the time?
B: It is 3:00.

A: What’s (what is) the time?
B: It is 3:00.

We do not say: How late is it? when asking for the time.


Thank you very much for reading! I hope you now have an expert understanding of how to tell time in English!

Don’t forget to check out my YouTube channelInstagram, Facebook and Blog!

See you next time! Arnel 🙂

pronouns

 

 

 

 

 

4 Comments

  • Raju

    Nice explanation. I am Raju Padaria, senior citizen, from India Gujarat Vadodara. After my retirement at present I am teaching spoken English to poor students at an educational institute in my city. This topic is very helpful to me to make it clear to my students how we can ask the time. keep it up, Arnels. Thank you.

    • Hi Raju,
      I’m so happy you found this lesson useful! Thank you so much for your lovely message, and you are more than welcome!
      Please say ‘hello’ to your students for me 🙂
      Arnel

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