THE TIME

To know how to ask and how to tell the time is another important matter in English. Lets see
the options a person has in order to ask for the time. As you can read below, there are three
different forms, and we can even include four, using What time do you have?, which translated
in Spanish, it is Qu hora es?

ASKING FOR THE TIME

What time is it?

Whats the time?
Can you tell me the time, please?

TELLING THE TIME

There are two ways to tell the time:
1. Time minutes: Its the simplest way to tell the time. Read and analyze these examples and
you will discover that its the same way as we tell it in Spanish.

1:10

Its one ten ;

3:40

Its three forty ;

5:15

Its five fifteen

7:35

Its seven thirty-five

9:20

Its nine twenty

11:50

Its eleven fifty

2:05

Its two of five

4:45

Its four forty-five

6:25

Its six twenty-five

8:30

Its seven thirty

10:55

Its ten fifty-five

Exercise 1. Write the times the teacher dictates.

a. Its six of five
b. Its five thirty
c. Its twelve thirty
thirty-three
d. Its one thirteen
seven
e. Its eleven thirty-five

f. Its ten twenty-one

g. Its seven fifty-five
h. Its ten ten

k. Its eleven thirty

l. Its four forty-four
m. Its twelve

i. Its eight forty-one

j. Its five thirty- seven

n. Its one fortyo. Its seven thirty eight

2. Minutes time: In this option its necessary to use words such as past / after and to. Its
also necessary to split the clock in two halves: The first half goes from 1 to 30 minutes so
the words to use are past / after. The second half goes from 31 to 59 minutes. The word to
use here is to.

1:10

5:15

9:20

Its ten past one

3:40

Its twenty to four

Its a quarter past five

7:35

Its twenty-five to eight

Its twenty past nine

11:50

Its ten to twelve

Take this into account:

On this format number 15 is changed for a quarter
On this format number 30 is changed for half
On this format number 45 is changed for a quarter

Read these examples:

1:15

Its a quarter past one

8:15

Its a quarter past eight

4:30

Its half past four

10:30

Its half past ten

5:45

Its a quarter to six

7:45

Its a quarter to eight

Exercise2. Write these times. Use the format minutes time.

a. 4:35 Its twenty-five to five
b.
c.
d.
e.

2:15 Its a quarter past two

11:30 Its half past eleven
12:45 Its a quarter to one
3:10 Its ten past three
seven

f. 6:45

Its a quarter to seven

g. 10:05
Its five past ten
h. 8:40 Its twenty to nine
i. 1:55
Its five to two
j. 7:25 Its twenty-five past