The English business world is run on a very tight schedule, so telling time is
very important. Here is how we tell time.
So the easiest way to tell time is to just say the hour and the minute... just
like that. Very simple. Look at this picture, for instance. Saying this time, it
would simply be '4:30'; you just say the hour and the minute. Let's do the next
one: 11:13. 9:27. Easy, right? But then we have
something a little more complex. Check out these times: quarter to two.
Half past seven. Five past three. Ten to two. Can you convert these into simple
hour-minute times? If not, here's how we do it. To do these, we need to understand
two terms: quarter and half. Now quarter just means a unit of '15.' So every 15
minutes is going to be counted in quarters. Let's say it's 12 o'clock, right?
Now, the quarters would be: fifteen... twelve fifteen, thirty... twelve thirty, forty-five...
twelve forty-five, and finally at twelve o'clock (or one if it's been an hour
already). On a regular clock, the clock will point to the three, the six, the nine,
and the twelve - that is, the long minute hand will point to those numbers. Those
are 'quarters.' And then we have 'half.' Half should be easy;
it's the 30-minute mark. The minute hand will point straight down to the six. If
it's twelve o'clock, the half would be twelve thirty. If it's six, then the half
would be at 6:30. Now I used phrases like quarter to two... half-past three... what are
'past' and 'to'? I'm going to explain those. When the minute hand is pointing to
anywhere between one minute or half - 30 minutes - we're gonna use the word 'past.'
You will hear quarter past and half past most commonly, but English speakers will
often use the 5-minute marks, like: five past, ten past, twenty minutes past... like
that. Let's look at our clock that I put up on the whiteboard. Five past two - that's
five minutes after two o'clock, or 2:05. Half past ten -
that's thirty minutes after ten o'clock, or 10:30. 'To' works a little bit
differently. You might hear ten to two, or ten till two; they - till and to - both mean
the same thing, okay? 'To' works for any number between the 31 minute mark and
the 59 minute mark... that's one minute before the hour. Those work using the
word 'to.' Like I said, you're going to hear the quarter to most commonly, but you
will also hear - fairly commonly - the five minute marks: five till, 10 till, 20 to... like
that. Here, we'll say the minute, then 'to,' and
then the next hour. Let's try it: 10 to 7 - is 7 minus 10 minutes, or 6:50. Quarter
to 6 is: 6 o'clock minus 15 minutes, or 5:45. So let's try these times again, and turn
them into simple hour minute times, like 5:30...2:45... try it like
that: Quarter to two...
1:45.
Half past seven...
7:30.
Five past three...
3:05.
Ten to two
1:50. Now I'll reverse it. I'll give you hour-minute
times, and I will expect you to change it to the past - or to - time phrase, okay? Let's
give it a try:
4:50...
Ten to five.
3:30...
Half past 3:00
12:55...
Five to One.
8:20...
Twenty past eight.
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