Time in English

Ways to tell the time in English vary somewhat from country to country, and within countries as well.

In the UK and Ireland 8:30 can be half past eight or half eight. The half eight form is not used in other English-speaking countries.

In some parts of the USA people say quarter after eight to mean 8:15, while elsewhere they say quarter past eight. Similarly half after eight = 8:30 in some parts of the USA, while they say half past eight or eight thirty elsewhere.

There various ways to say 8:45 - quarter of nine is used in some areas of the USA, and quarter til nine, quarter to nine, or eight forty-five in others.

The hundred hours system is only used in military contexts.

The times on the left are shown first in the 24-hour clock. In the UK and Ireland this is used mainly in timetables, e.g. for trains and buses. The 24-hour time system is not used in the USA and Canada, except in specialist areas, such as the military, aviation, navigation, computing, astronomy, and logistics.

Time	English
00:00 12am	Midnight Twelve am Zero hundred hours
00:15 12:15am	Quarter past midnight Quarter past twelve (in the morning) Quarter after twelve (in the morning) Twelve fifteen Zero zero fifteen hours
00:30 12:30am	Half past midnight Half midnight Twelve thirty Zero zero thirty hours
00:45 12:45am	Quarter to one (in the morning) Quarter til one Quarter before one Quarter of one Twelve forty-five Zero zero forty-five hours
01:00 1am	One o'clock (in the morning) One am Zero one hundred hours
01:15 1:15am	Quarter past one (in the morning) Quarter after one (in the morning) One fifteen (in the morning) One fifteen (am) Zero one fifteen hours
01:30 1:30am	Half past one (in the morning) Half one (in the morning) One thirty (am / in the morning) Zero one thirty hours
01:45 1:45am	Quarter to two (in the morning) Quarter til two (in the morning) Quarter of two (in the morning) One forty-five (am / in the morning) Zero one forty-five hours
02:00 2am	Two o'clock (in the morning) Two am Zero two hundred hours
08:00 8am	Eight o'clock (in the morning) Eight am Zero eight hundred hours
12:00 12pm	Twelve o'clock Twelve pm Midday Twelve hundred hours
13:00 1pm	One pm One o'clock ( in the afternoon) Thirteen hundred hours
13:15 1:15pm	Quarter past one (in the afternoon) Quarter after one (in the afternoon) One fifteen (in the afternoon) One fifteen pm Thirteen fifteen hours
13:30 1:30pm	Half past one (in the afternoon) Half one (in the afternoon) One thirty (in the afternoon) One thirty pm Thirteen thirty hours
13:45 1:45pm	Quarter to two (in the afternoon) One forty-five pm Quarter til two Quarter of two Thirteen forty-five hours
14:00 2pm	Two o'clock (in the afternoon) Two pm Fourteen hundred hours
18:00 6pm	Six o'clock (in the evening) Six pm Eighteen hundred hours
20:00 8pm	Eight o'clock (in the evening / at night) Eight pm Twenty hundred hours
23:00 11pm	Eleven o'clock (in the evening / at night) Eleven pm Twenty-three hundred hours
23:45 11:45pm	Quarter to midnight Quarter til midnight Quarter of midnight Eleven forty-five Eleven forty-five pm Eleven forty-five at night Twenty-three forty-five hours

Information about telling the time in English

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/time
https://www.easypacelearning.com/all-lessons/learning-english-level-1/1411-telling-the-time-basics-tell-the-time-in-british-and-american-english
https://www.wikihow.com/Tell-Military-Time

Information about the 24-hour time system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-hour_clock

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.

Telling the time in Germanic languages

Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, German, German (Berlinisch), Icelandic, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Swedish, Värmlandic

Time expressions

Days of the week | Months of the year | Seasons | Telling the Time | Dates

Multilingual pages

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