Telling the Time
To tell the time means to say what the time is, perhaps after somebody asks the time.
Asking the time
Here are some phrases you can use when you want to know the time:
- What's the time?
- What time is it?
- Have you got the right time?
- What time do you make it?
Telling the time
To tell someone what the time is, we can say "The time is..." or, more usually, "It's...". Here is a typical dialogue:
| Question: | What's the time, please? |
|---|---|
| Answer: | It's three o'clock. |
The chart below shows you two different ways to tell someone what the time is.
| more formal | less formal | |
|---|---|---|
| It's... | It's... | |
| 3.00 | three o'clock | three |
| 3.02 | just gone three o'clock | three oh two |
| 3.03 | three minutes past three | three oh three |
| 3.05 | five past three | three oh five |
| 3.09 | nine minutes past three | three oh nine |
| 3.10 | ten past three | three ten |
| 3.15 | a quarter past three | three fifteen |
| 3.20 | twenty past three | three twenty |
| 3.21 | twenty-one minutes past three | three twenty-one |
| 3.25 | twenty-five past three | three twenty-five |
| 3.30 | half past three | three thirty |
| 3.35 | twenty-five to four | three thirty-five |
| 3.40 | twenty to four | three forty |
| 3.45 | a quarter to four | three forty-five |
| 3.50 | ten to four | three fifty |
| 3.55 | five to four | three fifty-five |
| 3.57 | three minutes to four | three fifty-seven |
| 3.58 | nearly four o'clock | three fifty-eight |
| 4.00 | four o'clock | four |