Asking the time

The common question forms we use to ask for the time right now are:

• What time is it?
• What is the time?

A more polite way to ask for the time, especially from a stranger is:

• Could you tell me the time please?

The common question forms we use to ask at what time a specific event will happen are:

What time...?

When...?

• What time does the flight to New York leave?
• When does the bus arrive from London?
• When does the concert begin?

Giving the Time

We use It is or It's to respond to the questions that ask for the time right now.

• It is half past five (5:30).
• It's ten to twelve (11:50)

We use the structure AT + time when giving the time of a specific event.

• The bus arrives at midday (12:00).
• The flight leaves at a quarter to two (1:45).
• The concert begins at ten o'clock. (10:00)

We can also use subject pronouns in these responses.

• It arrives at midday (12:00).
• It leaves at a quarter to two (1:45).
• It begins at ten o'clock. (10:00)

AM vs. PM

We don't normally use the 24-hour clock in English.

We use a.m. (am) for the morning and p.m. (pm) for the afternoon and night.

3am = Three o'clock in the morning.

3pm = Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Telling the time

There are two common ways of telling the time.

1) Say the hour first and then the minutes. (Hour + Minutes)

• 6:25 - It's six twenty-five
• 8:05 - It's eight O-five (the O is said like the letter O)
• 9:11 - It's nine eleven
• 2:34 - It's two thirty-four

2) Say the minutes first and then the hour.  (Minutes + PAST / TO + Hour)

For minutes 1-30 we use PAST after the minutes.

For minutes 31-59 we use TO after the minutes.

• 2:35 - It's twenty-five to three
• 11:20 - It's twenty past eleven
• 4:18 - It's eighteen past four
• 8:51 - It's nine to nine
• 2:59 - It's one to three

When it is 15 minutes past the hour we normally say: (a) quarter past

• 7:15 - It's (a) quarter past seven

When it is 15 minutes before the hour we normally say: a quarter to

• 12:45 - It's (a) quarter to one

When it is 30 minutes past the hour we normally say: half past

• 3:30 - It's half past three (but we can also say three-thirty)

O'clock

We use o'clock when there are NO minutes.

• 10:00 - It's ten o'clock
• 5:00 - It's five o'clock
• 1:00 - It's one o'clock

Sometimes it is written as 9 o'clock (the number + o'clock)

12:00

For 12:00 there are four expressions in English.

• twelve o'clock 
• midday = noon 
• midnight

Telling the time video

AT - ON - IN Presposition of the Time

AT

We use AT with specific times (hour / minutes):

• I get up at 7 o'clock.
• My English class starts at 10am.
• She finishes work at 6.15
• I left the party at midnight.

Midnight (and midday) is a specific hour which is why we use AT.

12am = midnight
12pm = midday / noon

We use AT for a holiday period of two or more days:

• Do you normally get together with your relatives at Christmas?
• Did you eat a lot of chocolate at Easter?

ON

We use ON for specific days and dates:

• I will return it to you on Wednesday.
• They got married on Friday the 13th.
• We get paid on the 20th of every month.
• I drank too much on New Year's eve.

Remember that for dates, we use ordinal numbers.

E.g. the First of September (not the one of September)

IN

We use IN for specific months, years, seasons, centuries and lengths of time.

• My birthday is in January. (I don't mention the date, just the month)
• My grandmother was born in 1927.
• The river near my house is dry in Summer.
• The company was founded in the 19th century.
• We need to have this report ready in 15 minutes.

Compare:

The New Zealand National day is in February.
(I don't mention the day - only the month)

The New Zealand National day is on February 6th.
(I mention the day - the order is not important)