(note that you shouldn’t say ‘o’clock’ with these abbreviations). and p.m. to specify whether a time is before or after midday (mostly UK) / noon (mostly US): 4:00 four a.m. So 7:40 is seven forty or twenty to eight (UK and US), or twenty of eight (US). So 5:20 is five twenty (UK and US), twenty past five (mostly UK) or twenty after five (US).Īnd for times between thirty-one and fifty-nine minutes after the hour, UK and US English use to and US English sometimes uses of. 08:15, 8:15 a.m., Its a quarter past eight a.m. Just to make things more complicated, for 8:45, both can say eight forty-five or (a) quarter to nine Americans can also say (a) quarter of nine, but this is less common.įor times between one and twenty-nine minutes after the hour, UK English uses past and US English after (although past is also sometimes used in US English). 24-hour and 12-hour clock 16:45, 4:45 p.m., Its a quarter to five p.m. This means that at half past an hour, when the hour hand has moved half way between two numbers. For instance, for 4:15, both say four fifteen both could also say (a) quarter past four but this is less common for Americans, and Americans more frequently say (a) quarter after four. 20 past five means the same as 20 minutes after 5 or 5:20 What does twenty past six mean twenty past six is a time it means that it is 6:20 What does the term 20 past 4 mean Is the number twenty-six a noun or adjective Familiarity information: TWENTY-SIX used as a noun is very rare. There are some other differences between UK and US English.
Be aware that – unlike some other languages such as German – we relate half hours to the hour before, not the next hour. However, it is also common to convert 12-hour times into their old-fashioned equivalents, especially for units of 15 or 30 minutes, for example saying half past five for 5:30 ( half past is much less common in US English). When we learn to tell time, we also have to learn the. In Scotland, back of 10 means a bit past 10anywhere from 10:05 to 10:15.
NOAA image, based on Mauna Loa monthly mean data from NOAA. With the 12-hour clock, we may say the numbers for other times: 3:23 three twenty-three / 7:45 seven forty-five. In British English they use 'half-ten' to mean 10:30. In the past 60 years, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 100 times. With both systems, we say o’clock for whole hours: 3:00 three o’clock. 6:20, ses twintig / twintig minute oor ses. In more general speech, many of us move between a 12-hour clock and the more old-fashioned system we use for clocks with hands. What time is it Hoe laat is dit It is 2 oclock, dit is twee-uur. In the US, use of the 24-hour clock even for timetables is not common. For instance, we can say that a train leaves at 20:15 twenty fifteen.
In general, we only tend to use the 24-hour clock system for timetables (UK) / schedules (US). There are of course, various methods of telling the time: the 24-hour clock, the 12-hour clock and the old-fashioned way, using a round clock with hands. However, if you are not sure if they know, for example if you want to ask a stranger on a train or in the street, you can say: Excuse me, do you have the time, please? or (in UK English) Have you got the time, please? Trending Questions Why might learning of the vastness of outer space affect how people see themselves? What kind of equipment would you need to breathe on neptune? If the earth had no atomisphere? How do you create a contained zero gravity environment? How does the sun move from a heliocentric perspective? The earth rotates once per day about its axis Where on the surface should you stand in order to have the smallest possible tangental speed? What constellation contains Altair? What type of alien is Lt.Talking about time is a very basic skill, but one that can often cause problems, especially if your main language thinks about time in a different way.įirstly, if you want to know the time, what question do you need to ask? Well, if you are sure that the person you are asking knows the answer, you can simply say: What time is it? or What’s the time? (this is less common in US English).
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