Telling the time in English

We have some material for you about learning how to tell the time in English.

First watch this video...

Here is a summary chart...

Asking for the Time

There are two common ways of telling the time:

1) Say the hour first and then the minutes:

• 6:25 - It's six twenty-five.

• 9:11 - It's nine eleven.

• 2:34 - It's two thirty-four.

2) Say the minutes first and then the hour:

• 2:35 - It's twenty-five to three.

• 11:20 - It's twenty past eleven.

• 2:59 - It's one to three.

When it is 15 minutes past the hour we normally say:

• 7:15 - It's (a) quarter past seven.

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

• 12:45 - It's (a) quarter to one.

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

• 3:30 - It's half past three.

We use o'clock when there are NO minutes.

• 10:00 - It's ten o'clock.

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

• What time is it?

• What is the time?