Learn the Time in English

In this lesson you will learn the different ways to ask and say the time in English, and how to say the different expressions that are used.

For this you must know well the numbers in English.

The question What time is it? in English, can be said in three ways:

It is also commonly used the wordplease, after the question: What time is it, please?, What's the time, please?, Could you tell me the time, please?.

The answer to this question always has the same structure:
first we say the minutes and then the hour:

We will use past for the minutes of the first half hour, from 1 to 29, and to for the minutes of the second half hour, from 31 to 59.

It is important to keep in mind that for one hour, expressed with numbers, when the minutes are between 31 and 59, for example 7:50, we have to say the minutes until the next hour, ten minutes to eight.

When the minutes end in a number other than 0 or 5,
the word minutes is usually added behind them.

In English, as in Spanish, there is a special way to say the hour, the quarter hour and the half hour.

In documents written when one hour is expressed in the in the 12 hour format, the following abbreviations are usually added:

• a.m. (ante meridiem) When the time is before midday.
• p.m. (post meridiem) when the time is after noon and before midnight.

Although, more generally, it is usually used
In the morning, In the afternoon, In the evening and At night, that approximately correspond to the following hours:

• In the morning, from Sunrise till 12 p.m.
• In the afternoon, from 12 p.m. till 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
• In the evening, from 6 o'clock in the afternoon till 12 a.m.
• At night, from 12 a.m. till Sunrise.