There are two common ways of telling the time.

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

• 7:25 - It's seven twenty-five

• 7:05 - It's seven O-five (the O is said like the letter O)

• 7:11 - It's seven eleven

• 7:34 - It's seven 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.

• 7:35 - It's twenty-five to seven

• 7:20 - It's twenty past seven

• 7:18 - It's eighteen past seven

• 6:51 - It's nine to seven

• 6:59 - It's one to seven

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

• 7:45 - It's (a) quarter to eight

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

• 7:30 - It's half past seven (but we can also say seven-thirty)

O'clock

We use o'clock when there are NO minutes.

• 07:00 - It's seven o'clock

• 6:00 - It's six o'clock

• 1:00 - It's one o'clock

• 14:00- it's two 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