How to speak Time, Week, Year and Date in English

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Time

There are two ways to telling the time.

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

Say the minutes first and then the hour. (Minutes + PAST / To + Hour)

  • For minutes 1-30 we use the PAST after the minutes

    • 11:20 It’s twenty past eleven
    • 4:18 It’s eighteen past four

  • For minutes 31-59 we use the TO after the minutes

    • 2:35 It’s twenty-five to three
    • 8:51 It’s nine to nine
    • 2:59 It’s one to three

  • Special writing when the minutes is 15 30

    • 7:15 It’s quarter past seven
    • 7:45 It’s quarter to eight
    • 3:30 It’s half past three

  • We use the o’clock when there are no minutes

    • 10:00 It’s ten o'clock
    • 5:00 It’s five o'clock
    • 9:00 Sometimes it’s written as 9 o'clock (number + o’clock)

  • 12:00

    • twelve o’clock
    • midday / noon
    • midnight

  • AM & PM
    We use the am for the morning and pm for the afternoon and night.

    • 3am Three o’clock in the morning.
    • 4pm Four o’clock in the afternoon.

Asking for the Time

  • The common question forms we ask for the time right now are:

    • What time is it?
    • What’s the time?

  • A more polite way to ask for the time, especially from stranger is:

    • Could you tell me the time please?

  • The common question forms we use to ask at what time a special event will happen are:

    • What does the flight to New York leave?
    • When does the bus arrive from London?
    • When does the concert begin?

  • Giving the time

    • It's half past ten(10:30).
    • It's ten to nine(8:50).

  • We use the structure at + time when we giving the time of a special event

    • The bus arrived at midnight
    • The flight leaves at a quarter to ten.

Parts of the Day in English

  • day = When the sun is in the sky.
  • night = When the sun is not in the sky.
  • sunrise = When the sun first appears in the sky.
  • sunset = When the sun disappears at the end of the day.
  • midday / noon = At twelve o’clock in the day
  • midnight = twelve o’clock at night.
  • morning = Before 12(midday)
  • afternoon = After 12(midday) until sunset.
  • evening = sunset until you get to bed(or 10pm/11pm)
  • night = When there is no sun and it’s dark.

Days of the Week

  • Monday
  • Tuesday
  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Saturday
  • Sunday
  • The weekend = Saturday and Sunday

Months of the Year

  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December

How to say the Year in English

  • Years are normally divided into two parts, the first two digits and the last two digits.

    • 1066 = ten sixty-six
    • 1652 = sixteen fifty-two
    • 1941 = nineteen forty-one
    • 2017 = twenty seventeen

  • For the year 200 you say two thousand

    • For the years 2001 to 2010, the most common way of saying the year is two thousand and + number
      • 2001 = two thousand and one
      • 2005 = two thousand and five
      • 2008 = two thousand and eight
    • For the years after 2010 you may hear two different alternatives
      • 2012 = two thousand and twelve
      • 2012 = twenty twelve

  • When a year ends with a number between 01 and 09

    • 1508 = fifteen O eight
    • 1709 = seventeen O nine
    • 1901 = nineteen O one

  • When a year ends in 00

    • 1300 = thirteen hundred
    • 1900 = nineteen hundred

  • When people refer to the entire century, an S is added to the end

    • 1500-1599 = The 1500s = The fifteen hundreds
    • 1600-1699 = The 16th century

How to say the Date in English

  • Order of Days and Months when saying the date
    There are two ways of giving the date in English.

    • Month + Day: December 25 - Used in United States.
    • Day + Month: 25th December - Used in the rest of the world

  • How can you ask for the date in English

    • What day is it today?
      • People will probably respond with a day of the week(It’s monday) or the number(It’s 15th)
    • What day is it?
      • People may give you the number(It’s 15th) or the day/month (It’s April 18). They will not answer with a day of the week(It’s sunday).
    • What is the date? or What is today's date?
      • This is another way where you will get a number as an answer.

  • The response to your question most likely start with:

    • The date is
    • The date today is
    • Today is
    • It is .. most common

The seasons in English

Season vocabularies

  • spring
  • summer
  • autumn / fall (the fall is used in American English, and the autumn is used in British English)
  • winter

We use the preposition IN before the seasons.