Telling the time
When you want to know the time, you can ask one of the following questions:
| Wie viel Uhr ist es? | What time is it? |
| Wie spät ist es? | How late is it? (literally) |
When saying the time in German you use similar sorts of words to English:
| Uhr | hour, o'clock |
| Viertel | quarter |
| nach | past |
| vor | to |
| Es ist vier Uhr | It's 4 o'clock |
| Es ist Viertel vor zwei | It's quarter to two |
| Es ist fünf nach sechs | It's five past six |
| Es ist zwanzig vor neun | It's twenty to nine |
It's easy to get confused when you're saying half past in German.
In English you say it's half past the previous hour - in German you say it's half an hour before the following hour!
| Es ist halb vier | It's half past three |
| Es ist halb fünf | It's half past four |
To say at what time, you use um.
| Wir sehen uns um halb drei | We'll meet at 2:30 |
The 24-hour-clock is used in timetables and official schedules. You'll hear both the 12-hour and 24-hour system used in everyday language.
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Numbers 1-10
Giving dates
