{"id":3231,"date":"2018-11-28T17:37:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T17:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2019-09-06T11:34:11","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T11:34:11","slug":"express-english-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/express-english-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 9. The Complete Guide to Time in English"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Time
Time in English<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Knowing how to tell the time in the correct way will make you look like a native when you are visiting an English-speaking country. Recommended background: The Complete Guide of Numbers in English.<\/a> Let\u2019s learn about the time in English here!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asking the Time in English<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The most basic way to ask the time in English is:<\/p>\n

What time is it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Telling the Time in English<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hour<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

We use \u2018of the clock\u2019 (o\u2019clock<\/em>) to express the full hour. In simple, it is used when there is no minute available. Examples:<\/p>\n

One o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

1:00.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Three o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

3:00.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Twelve o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

12:00.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To answer in a full sentence, use the dummy subject: it is<\/a> (shortened as it\u2019s<\/em>).<\/p>\n

It is seven o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

It is 7:00.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Minutes<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

If there are minutes after the hour, do not use o\u2019clock. There are two common ways to tell time in English: an easy and a general way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

Easy Way<\/u><\/h4>\n

The hours come first and followed by the minutes.<\/p>\n

Structure: Number (Hours) + Number (Minutes)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

Six forty-five.<\/p>\n

6:45.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eight fifty-eight.<\/p>\n

8:58.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For minutes from :01 until :09, pronounce ‘the number zero<\/em>\u2019 as \u2018the letter o\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Three o two.<\/p>\n

3:02.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

Ten o five.<\/p>\n

10:05.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

General Way<\/u><\/h4>\n

In a general way, people use the word \u2018past\u2019 or \u2018to\u2019 between minutes and hours. The word \u2018past\u2019 is used for the minutes between 01 and 30, while \u2018to\u2019 is for minutes between 31 and 59.<\/p>\n

Structure: Number (Minutes) + Past\/To + Number (Hours)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

Ten past eleven.<\/p>\n

11:10.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eleven past ten.<\/p>\n

10:11.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since the minutes are mentioned earlier, we do not<\/u> need to use the letter o for minutes from :01 to :09.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Five past three.<\/p>\n

3:05.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nine past four.<\/p>\n

4:09.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

Seconds<\/u><\/h3>\n

For expressing the full time (hours, minutes, and seconds included), use the following:<\/p>\n

Structure: Number (Hours) + Number (Minutes) + Number (Seconds) + Seconds<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

Eleven fifty-nine fifty-nine seconds.<\/p>\n

11:59:59.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Three fifteen thirty-five seconds.<\/p>\n

03:15:35.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

a.m. and p.m.<\/u><\/h3>\n

To make the time distinction clear, English generally use the 12-hour clock system. We use ante meridiem<\/em> (a.m.) to refer time between midnight 00:00 and midday 12:00 (before midday), while post meridiem<\/em> (p.m.) refers to the time between midday 12:00 and midnight 12:00 (after midday). Therefore:<\/p>\n

8.00 a.m. = 8 o\u2019clock in the morning (08:00).<\/p>\n

8.00 p.m. = 8 o\u2019clock in the evening (20:00).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

12.00 a.m. = 12 o\u2019clock in the night (midnight).<\/p>\n

12.00 p.m. = 12 o\u2019clock in the afternoon (midday).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note that we use the colon (:) to separate the 24-hour clock system. On the other hand, dot (.) is used to separate the 12-hour clock system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quarter and Half<\/u><\/h3>\n

Another way to express time is by using quarter and half. Quarter<\/em> means 15 minutes,<\/em> while half<\/em> means 30 minutes<\/em> in term of time. Thus:<\/p>\n

6:15<\/strong> can be expressed by:<\/em><\/p>\n

a quarter past six<\/p>\n

six fifteen<\/p>\n

fifteen past six<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6:30<\/strong> can be expressed by:<\/em><\/p>\n

half past six<\/p>\n

six thirty<\/p>\n

thirty past six<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6:45<\/strong> can be expressed by:<\/em><\/p>\n

a quarter to seven<\/p>\n

six forty-five<\/p>\n

forty-five past six<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s learn English today! Join us at LingoCards<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knowing how to tell the time in the correct way will make you look like a native when you are visiting an English-speaking country. Recommended…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-3231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-numbers","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3231"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3871,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions\/3871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}