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Telling The Time in English

The document discusses two common ways to tell time in English - saying the hour then minutes or saying the minutes then using terms like "past" or "to" before stating the next hour. It provides examples like "6:25 - It's six twenty-five" or "11:20 - It's twenty past eleven." Additionally, it discusses uses of terms like "o'clock", "quarter past/to", "half past", and "noon/midnight" as well as asking and telling time.

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1K views5 pages

Telling The Time in English

The document discusses two common ways to tell time in English - saying the hour then minutes or saying the minutes then using terms like "past" or "to" before stating the next hour. It provides examples like "6:25 - It's six twenty-five" or "11:20 - It's twenty past eleven." Additionally, it discusses uses of terms like "o'clock", "quarter past/to", "half past", and "noon/midnight" as well as asking and telling time.

Uploaded by

melodia.de.piano1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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 ) ‫ ظهر‬12 (
 midnight )‫(نیمه شب‬

Asking for 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:( ‫)مودبانه تر‬
 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.

Couple and Few


A couple of anything generally means two of something. If you say that
you have a couple minutes it means about two or three minutes.
A few usually means three to five of something, so a few minutes is a
little bit longer than a couple, however they are usually used in the same
way.

Both can tell people that there is only a short amount of time left before
something, or can make the time of day less specific. You can use
couple and few with minutes or hours.

“How long until we leave?”


“A few minutes.”
“What time is it now?”
“A couple minutes past five.”

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