German: how to tell the time
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There are several ways to ask about the time. In rough order of politeness:
Entschuldigung, könnten Sie mir sagen wie spät es ist?
Entschuldigung, könnten Sie mir sagen wieviel Uhr es ist?
Könnten Sie mir sagen wie spät es ist?
Könnten Sie mir sagen wieviel Uhr es ist?
Wie spät ist es?
Wieviel Uhr ist es?
Some sample answers:
- Es ist (Punkt) fünf (Uhr). - It is (exactly) 5 (o'clock)
- Es ist jetzt (genau) fünf Uhr. - It is now (exactly) 5 o'clock
- Fünf Minuten vor zehn.. - 5 minutes to 10
- Fünf Minuten nach zehn. - 5 minutes past 10.
Normally people are lazy though and just say
- Fünf vor zehn
The Minuten part isn't always necessary.
If it is already past the 30 min mark, people normally refer to the upcoming hour, using vor.
- Es ist zwanzig vor acht. - It is 20 to 8.
Notice that ist and not sind is used, even though the minutes or hours might be plural. This is because the time is seen as one fixed quantity at any moment.
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Halves and quarters
A point that can cause confusion is the way to say half past:
- Halb acht. - 7.30
- Fünf vor halb acht. / Fünfundzwanzig nach sieben. - 7.25
- Fünf nach halb acht. / Fünfundzwanzig vor acht. - 7.35
There are two ways to refer to the quarters:
- Viertel nach sieben. / Viertel acht. - 7.15
- Viertel vor acht. / Dreiviertel acht. - 7.45
The second variant is mainly used in Saxony and Württemberg, and people from other regions might not understand it.
17 vs 5
Germans don't really use the a.m. or p.m. distinction. It is common to talk about Siebzehn Uhr dreißig, for example. But in conversational speech people often leave it away when it is obvious. Also the construction with halves and quarters is only possible with the numbers below 13. If it isn't obvious, for example if someone asks
- Treffen wir uns um acht? - Shall/Do we meet at 8?
the partner might ask
- Morgens oder abends? - In the morning or evening?
just to be sure. Notice the use of the ending s. One could also use another variant, though it is longer:
- Am Morgen oder am Abend? - In the morning or evening?
When using numbers above 12 one usually leaves the Minuten away and instead stresses the hour.
- Es ist nun achtzehn Uhr zwölf. = 6.12 p.m.
In formal situations, for example when a newsspeaker is talking, the most exact way of saying would be:
- Es ist jetzt neunzehn Uhr dreiundzwanzig und fünfzehn Sekunden. = 7:23:15 p.m.
The sections of the day
According to the calender the new day starts at Mitternacht (midnight). There is no specific name for the following hours, one usually describes this time as spät in der Nacht. After this one talks about the frühe Morgenstunden (early hours of the morning), though people who don't like to get up early might moan about the time being mitten in der Nacht (in the middle of the night). In student time this might be as late as 8am though. A party might also last this long:
- Die Party ging bis in die frühen Morgenstunden.
Early morning is referred to as am frühen Morgen, followed by Morgen and then Vormittag, the time before midday, or noon: Mittag. After Mittag (noon) comes the Nachmittag (afternoon), which can also be early (am frühen Nachmittag) or late (am späten Nachmittag). After Nachmittag follows Abend (evening), which can also be early or late. And following the späten Abend it becomes Nacht (night) again.
So the important modifiers to know here are: vor-, nach-, (before and after) and früh, spät (early and late)
Relative time measures
Exactly was already mentioned: Es ist genau fünf Uhr. If you don't want to be totally precise one would say Es ist ungefähr fünf (about five), or one might also hear the expressions um die fünf, about/around 5.
Shortly before/after would be kurz vor/nach fünf. The same goes for the half hour, kurz nach halb fünf, but not for the quarters. If it is way after 5, for example when a meeting should have started, one says Es ist schon längst nach 5, implying something was supposed to be already happening at 5.
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