There are 15 minutes in quarter of an hour.
There are 30 minutes in half an hour.
There are 45 minutes in three quarters of an hour.
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".
30 minutes is half an hour, we say "half past" or "thirty".
15 minutes is quarter of an hour. At 15 minutes past the hour we say "quarter past" or "fifteen". At fifteen minutes to the hour we say "quarter to" or "forty-five".
 |
Twelve o'clock | |
Twelve fifteen or Quarter past twelve |
 |
Twelve thirty or Half past twelve |
 |
Twelve forty-five or Quarter to one |
| Exactly | About | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
or
|
|
|
or
|
 |
|
or
|
AM |
00:01 - 11:59 |
write a.m. - stands for Ante Meridiem (the time between midnight and noon) |
00:01 to 11:59 |
| write noon or midday |
12:00 |
write p.m. - stands for Post Meridian (after noon) |
12:01 - 23:59 |
| write midnight |
24:00 |
If you say "Good morning" at 1 am, people will think you are strange. Different rules apply, which are more to do with how light it is. See also " Greetings".
Daytime - the time between sunrise and sunset |
Starts at sunrise / dawn |
morning - the time between sunrise and noon |
sunrise - 11:59 |
afternoon - the time between noon and sunset |
12:01 - sunset |
Nighttime - the time between sunset and sunrise |
Starts at sunset / dusk |
evening - the time between sunset and night (full darkness) |
sunset - darkness |
night - the time after evening and before sunrise |
dark - sunrise |
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 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.
