Time

Telling timeThe short hand shows the hours.

The long hand shows the minutes.

Remember: There are exactly sixty minutes in one hour

Short hand Long hand

It´s eight o’clock

It’s one thirty

Different ways of telling time in English

We use o’clock only at the full hour:

9: 00 11:00 7:00It’s nine o’clock It’s eleven o’clock It’s seven o’clock

We use “half past” to say thirty minutes , or 30 minutes past the hour.

1:30 2:30 7:30

It’s half past one or It’s half past two or It’s half past seven or It’s one thirty It’s two thirty It’s seven thirty

We use “to” to say times before the hour, from 31minutes until the full hour

It’s ten to eight It’s twenty five to four It’s ten to four

We use “past” to say times after the hour, until 30 minutes past the hour

It’s twenty past three It’s ten past three It’s twenty past seven

3:20 3:10 3:20

7:50 3:35 3:50

We use quarter past and quarter to say 15 minutes:A: Quarter past:

12:15 1:15 11:15It’s quarter past twelve It´s quarter past one It’s quarter past eleven

B: Quarter to:

12:45 4:45 8:45 It´s quarter to one It´s quarter to five It´s quarter to nine

You can also tell the time in general like this way:

3:05 7:50 12:45 It`s three five It’s seven fifty It’s twelve forty five

When speaking about the different times of the day we often use: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night

8:00am 12:15 pm 8:30pm 11:45 pm It’s eight o’clock It’s quarter past twelve It’s half past eight It’s quarter to twelvein the morning in the afternoon in the evening at night

How can you ask the time?

What time is it? It´s nine o’clock

What’s the time ? It’s quarter past eleven

What time do you have? It’s half past two