The need to express the time is quite old, until very recently, most watches were analog, so the time was associated with the area of analog clock.
There are 3 buildings to express the time in English:
Traditional (12-hour clock)
It's two o'clock
It's two o'clock
Formal (12 hour
 |
Formal (12 hour) It's 4:15 (four fifteen)They are 4:15 (quarter past four)Military (24 hour clock)It's 1300 (thirteen hundhoursred)They are 13:00 (thirteen.
HoraEstructuraEjemploSignificado1:00... o'clockone o'clock la una en punto1:15(a) quarter past ... (UK)
(a) quarter after ... (USA)a quarter past one
a quarter after one
la una y cuarto1:30half past ... (UK)
half ... (UK informal)
half after ... (USA)
half past one
half one
half after one
la una y media12:45(a) quarter to ... (Normal)
(a) quarter till ... (USA raro)a quarter to one
a quarter till onela una menos cuarto1:10... past ... (UK)
... after ... (USA)ten past one
ten after onela una y diez12:50... to ... (Normal)
... till ... (USA raro)ten to one
ten till onela una menos diez.
We studied the most common phrases to ask the time and answer this question. Now we study how to read the clock in English and telling time.
4:00 It’s four o’clock Four o’clock
4:02 It’s two minutes past four Four O-two
4:03 It’s three minutes past four Four O-three
4:05 It’s five past four Four O-five
4:09 It’s nine minutes past four Four O-nine
4:10 It’s ten past four Four ten
4:15 It’s a quarter past four Four fifteen
4:20 It’s twenty past four Four twenty
4:21 It’s 21 minutes past four Four twenty-one
4:25 It’s twenty-five past four Four twenty-five
4:30 It’s half past four Four thirty
4:35 It’s twenty-five to five Four thirty-five
4:40 It’s twenty to five Four forty
4:45 It’s a quarter to five Four forty-five
4:50 It’s ten to five Four fifty
4:55 It’s five to five Four fifty-five
4:57 It’s three minutes to five Four fifty-seven
4:58 It’s nearly five c’clock Four fifty-eight
5:00 It’s five o’clock Five
CLOCK MORE FORMAL
In the written documents when Time is expressed in the form of division of time into 12 hours, usually add the following abbreviatiatons.
am (ante meridiem) when the time is before noon (midday)
pm (post meridiem) when the time is after noon and before midnight (midnight)
Although more widely, it is customary to use the expressions.
In the morning, In the afternoon, In the evening and At night, roughly corresponding to the following hours.
In the morning, from sunrise until 12 noon.
In the afternoon, from 12 noon to 6pm.
In the evening, from 6 pm to 12 pm.
At night, from 12 pm until dawn.
It is also often used the word Please / Please / (please) after the question: What time is it, Please ?, What's the time, Please ?, Could you tell me the time, please?.
The answer to this question always has the same structure, say the first minutes after the hour: It is time (It's) (+ minutes) past / to (+.
We use past for minutes of the first half hour, from 1 to 29,
and to for minutes of the second half hour, from 31 to 5.
It is important to note that for an hour, expressed in numbers, when the minutes are between 31 and 59, for example 7:50, we have to say the missing until the next hour, seven fifty minutes.
When the minutes end in a number other than 0 or 5,
usually add the word minutes behind them.
In English, as in Spanish, there is a special way to say
the hour, quarter-hour and half hour.
The answer to this question always has the same structure, say the first minutes after the hour: It is time (It's) (+ minutes) past / to (+.
We use past for minutes of the first half hour, from 1 to 29,
and to for minutes of the second half hour, from 31 to 5.
It is important to note that for an hour, expressed in numbers, when the minutes are between 31 and 59, for example 7:50, we have to say the missing until the next hour, seven fifty minutes.
When the minutes end in a number other than 0 or 5,
usually add the word minutes behind them.
In English, as in Spanish, there is a special way to say
the hour, quarter-hour and half hour.
