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:
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 channel, Instagram, Facebook and Blog!
See you next time! Arnel 🙂
It’s 10 past 3.
Great Ernesto! The perfect time to be learning 😉
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