Extra: Die Uhrzeit ​Telling Time

In General:

1. In German speaking countries, when writing the time, there is a ​period​ between the hour
and the minutes rather than a colon (e.g. “2.30 Uhr”)
1. For formal and official time​ references, the ​24-hour clock​ is used; thus, referring to 5:30 pm
as “17.30 (Uhr)” (5 o’clock+12 hours when “pm”)
1. When using the official time, the 24-hour clock in SPOKEN German, the military time with
hundred-hours is NOT used; instead the pattern is:

Number of the ​hour (e.g.”17” for “5pm”) – Uhr – number of minutes​ (e.g. “22”)

Example​: E: 5:22 pm => G written: 17.22 Uhr (with a „.”, not a “:”)
=> G spoken: siebzehn Uhr zweiundzwanzig

1. For informal use of time, German ​speakers use the 12-hour​ clock (like in the U.S.) and
differentiate between day and night:
2. With ​common sense​; e.g. when talking about meeting for coffee, it is understood that it
would not be at 3:30 ​in the morning
3. In ​context​; e.g. two people have the early shift at work and one is picking up the other, both
know that when the pick-up time is said to be “5 Uhr”, that this means “5 in the morning”
4. With ​signal words​ such as ​nachmittags/am Nachmittag​ (in the afternoon), ​morgens/am
Morgen​ (in the morning), ​abends/am Abend​ (in the evening), ​mittags/am Mittag​ (at
noon); e.g. drei Uhr nachmittags, sieben Uhr morgens, sechs Uhr abends, zwölf Uhr
mittags.

Asking and Telling Time:

What time is it? - a) Wie spät ist es? b) Wie viel Uhr ist es?

Telling time: ​Down below are examples for telling time casually (e.g. between friends) and officially
(e.g. at a train station). Watch the words for casual time telling "vor" (til), "nach" (past), "Viertel
vor/nach" (quarter til/past), "halb..." (half...), "Dreiviertel..." (three quarters of...)

English 1:00pm

● Casual: Es ist ein​s​. (only with "one o'clock", do you have to add an -s to "ein" if you don't
mention "Uhr" afterwards)
● Casual: Es ist ein Uhr.
● Official: Es ist dreizehn Uhr. (you always use the 24 hour clock for official time telling!)
● English 10:45am
● Casual: Es ist ​Viertel vor​ elf. (just like in English: "it is a quarter till eleven")
● Casual: Es ist ​Dreiviertel​ elf. (unlike English: "it is three quarters of eleven)
● Official: Es ist zehn Uhr fünfundvierzig. (​you always use the 24 hour clock AND the
FULL minutes in official time telling​!)
● English 11:15am
● Casual: Es ist ​Viertel nach​ elf. (just like in English: "It is a quarter past eleven")
● Official: Es ist elf Uhr fünfzehn. (you always use the 24 hour clock AND the FULL minutes
in official time telling!)
● English: 7:50pm
● Casual: Es ist zehn ​vor​ acht (abends). (just like in English: "It is 10 till eight (in the
evening)")
● Es ist neunzehn Uhr fünfzig. (you always use the 24 hour clock AND the FULL minutes in
official time telling!)
● English: 4:07pm
● Casual: Es ist sieben ​nach​ vier (nachmittags). (just like English: "It is 5 past 3" (in the
afternoon)")
● Official: Es ist sechzehn Uhr sieben. (you always use the 24 hour clock AND the FULL
minutes in official time telling!)
● English 9:30
● Casual: Es ist ​halb​ zehn. (unlike English: "It is half ten")
● Official: Es ist neun Uhr dreißig. (you always use the 24 hour clock AND the FULL minutes
in official time telling!)