Do you know how to tell the time in English? Watch this video to learn how to tell the time in two different formats.
Step 1: Watch the video
1. Say the hour first and then the minutes. Hour + Minutes
- 6:25 – It’s six twenty-five
- 8:05 – It’s eight O-five (the O is said like the letter O)
- 9:11 – It’s nine eleven
- 2:34 – It’s two 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.
- 2:35 – It’s twenty-five to three
- 11:20 – It’s twenty past eleven
- 4:18 – It’s eighteen past four
- 8:51 – It’s nine to nine
- 2:59 – It’s one to three
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
- 12:45 – It’s (a) quarter to one
When it is 30 minutes past the hour we normally say: half past
- 3:30 – It’s half past three (but we can also say three-thirty)
WeSpeak Idiomas 