Time in Scots

How to tell the time in Scots (Scots Leid), a West Germanic language spoken mainly in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

English	Scots
What time is it?	Whit time is it? Whit's the time noo?
It's one o'clock	It's wan
It's quarter past one	It's a quarter efter wan
It's half past one	It's hauf-wan
It's quarter to two	It's a quarter tae twa
It's two o'clock	It's twa
It's quarter past two	It's a quarter efter twa
It's half past two	It's hauf-twa
It's quarter to three	It's a quarter tae three
It's three o'clock	It's three
It's quarter past three	It's a quarter efter three
It's half past three	It's hauf-three
It's quarter to four	It's a quarter tae fower
It's four o'clock	It's fower
It's quarter past four	It's a quarter efter fower
It's half past four	It's hauf-fower
It's quarter to five	It's a quarter tae five
It's five o'clock	It's five
It's quarter past five	It's a quarter efter five
It's half past five	It's hauf-five
It's quarter to six	It's a quarter tae sax
It's six o'clock	It's saz
It's quarter past six	It's a quarter efter sax
It's half past six	It's hauf-sax
It's quarter to seven	It's a quarter tae seiven
It's seven o'clock	It's seiven
It's quarter past seven	It's a quarter efter seiven
It's half past seven	It's hauf-seiven
It's quarter to eight	It's a quarter tae echt
It's eight o'clock	It's echt
It's quarter past eight	It's a quarter efter echt
It's half past eight	It's hauf-echt
It's quarter to nine	It's a quarter tae nine
It's nine o'clock	It's nine
It's quarter past nine	It's a quarter efter nine
It's half past nine	It's hauf-nine
It's quarter to ten	It's a quarter tae ten
It's ten o'clock	It's ten
It's quarter past ten	It's a quarter efter ten
It's half past ten	It's hauf-ten
It's quarter to eleven	It's a quarter tae eleivin
It's eleven o'clock	It's eleivin
It's quarter past eleven	It's a quarter efter eleivin
It's half past eleven	It's hauf-eleivin
It's quarter to twelve	It's a quarter tae twal
It's twelve o'clock	It's twal
It's quarter past twelve	It's a quarter efter twal
It's half past twelve	It's hauf-twal
It's quarter to one	It's a quarter tae wan
It's midnight	It's midnicht / the deid oor o nicht
It's midday / noon	It's twaloors / nuin
in the morning	in the mornin
in the early morning	in the wee-oors / smaw oors
in the late morning	in the forenuin
in the afternoon	in the efernuin
in the evening	in the evenin / forenicht, at e'en

Notes

In traditional Scots hauf-twa meant half past one, and hauf-three meant half past two - like in other Germanic languages, except English. Modern Scots follows the English system.

This information comes from the from L Colin Wilson's Luath Scots Language Learner, which focuses particularly on the Scots of North East Scotland, or Doric. There are other dialects of Scots, and other ways of writing Scots.

Information about numbers and time in Scots
https://www.scotslanguage.com/Numbers_and_Time

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

Time expressions

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

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