The time:

Do you know?
How many hours does a day have?

How many minutes does an hour have?

How many seconds does a minute have?

To ask about the time in English, we can use one of the following questions:
(Excuse me) What time is it?
(Excuse me) What’s the time?

Parts of the clock:

clock face

minute hand hour hand

(shortest hand)
(longest hand)

The numbers on a clock face represent the hours,

Every single little mark on a clock face represent one minute.
 We can divide the clock face in
two parts. We call this ‘half’

half

a quarter We can divide the clock face in

four parts. We call this ‘quarter’

a quarter

half

Exercise: Say the parts of the clock:

1. ___________

2. _________ 3. ___________
(shortest hand)
(longest hand)
 When the minute hand points to the
number 12 (0 minutes), and the hour
hand points to one of the hour numbers,
we call this ‘o’clock’.

It’s nine o’clock.

Example:
What time is it? What is the time?

It’s six o’clock It’s one o’clock. It’s ten o’clock It’s five o’ clock

When the minute hand points to the

number 6 (30 minutes), we call this
‘half past’.

It’s half past two.

Example:
What time is it? What is the time?

It’s half past four It’s half past seven It’s half past two It’s half past twelve
 When the minute hand points to the
number 3 (15 minutes), we call this
‘a quarter past’.

It’s a quarter past eleven.

Example:
What time is it? What is the time?

It’s a quarter past two It’s a quarter past eight It’s a quarter past six It’s a quarter past one

When the minute hand points to the

number 9 (45 minutes), we call this
‘a quarter to’.
We need to use next hour o’clock.

It’s a quarter to five.

Example:
What time is it? What is the time?

It’s a quarter to six It’s a quarter to three It’s a quarter to eight It’s a quarter to ten
 Exercise:
Ask and say the time in each clock as the example:
Example: Excuse me, what time is it? It’s a quarter to ten.
Excuse me what is the time?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20.