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Learn to talk about time and ask the time in English (requires Real Player).
On the hour
Past / to the hour
Prepositions
What to say
Writing the time

Time (1)

When it's "on the hour" we say "o'clock". But only when it's on the hour.

12 o'clock Twelve o'clock 12 o'clock Six o'clock
12 o'clock One o'clock 12 o'clock Seven o'clock
12 o'clock Two o'clock 12 o'clock Eight o'clock
12 o'clock Three o'clock 12 o'clock Nine o'clock
12 o'clock Four o'clock 12 o'clock Ten o'clock
12 o'clock Five o'clock 12 o'clock Eleven o'clock

Time (2)

When it's past the hour (up to 30 minutes past) we say "past".

When it's before the hour (after 30 minutes past) we say "to".

There are 60 minutes in an hour.

30 minutes is half an hour, we say "half past" or "thirty".

15 minutes is quarter of an hour, we say "quarter past" or "fifteen" or "quarter to" or "forty-five".

Clock past to
12 o'clock Twelve o'clock 12 o'clock Twelve fifteen

or

Quarter past twelve
12 o'clock

Twelve thirty

or

Half past twelve

We never say "half to".

 12 o'clock Twelve forty-five

or

Quarter to one
12 o'clock 00:00 and 24:00 = Twelve midnight (or midnight) 12 o'clock 12:00 = Twelve noon (or noon)

Prepositions used with time

At a point in time In a length of time
"When shall we meet? 12 o'clock "Let's meet at 12.30." "It's 12.45, when will you be ready? 12 o'clock "I'll see you in an hour, at about 1.45."

Naturally speaking

How to ask the time in English.
12 o'clock
  • It's exactly eight o'clock.

or
  • It's eight.
12 o'clock
  • It's half past twelve.

or
  • It's twelve thirty.
12 o'clock
  • It's about half past eleven.

or
  • It's around eleven thirty.

Writing the time

morning 00:01 - 11:59
a.m. - stands for Ante Meridiem (the time between midnight and noon) 00:01 hrs - 12:00
noon or midday 12:00
p.m. - stands for Post Meridian (after noon) 12:01 - 24:00 hrs
afternoon 12:01 - 18:00
evening 18:01 - 22:00
night 22:01 - 24:00
midnight 24:00 / 00:00

There are 24 hours in a day, but only the military, police and computer programmers use the 24-hour clock. When writing or speaking generally we tend to use the 12-hour clock. The 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods called a.m. (Latin "ante meridiem" | English: "before mid day") and p.m. (Latin "post meridiem" | English: "after mid day").

The way people write the time varies. I prefer a.m. and p.m.

Choose from the following styles or use what your English teacher tells you to and stick to it:-

a.m. p.m.
am pm
AM PM
A.M. P.M.

Some people (myself included) use a dot as the separator: 2.30 pm.

Some people use a colon as the separator: 2:30 pm. The colon is usually used with the 24-hour clock: 14:30.