Hebrew - how to tell the time
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To ask what time it is we say:
"Excuse me, what time is it?" - "?סליחה, מה השעה" (slicha, ma hasha'ah?)
Hebrew uses the 24 hour format to tell time (just like in the military). Here's an explanation for those who aren't familiar with this format:
01:00 - 12:00 is am (1 am, 5 am, etc).
13:00 - 1 pm
14:00 - 2 pm
15:00 - 3 pm
16:00 - 4 pm
17:00 - 5 pm
18:00 - 6 pm
19:00 - 7 pm
20:00 - 8 pm
21:00 - 9 pm
22:00 - 10 pm
23:00 - 11 pm
24:00 - midnight.
While speaking, however, we use the 12 hour format (but it can also be used for writing). We don't use am or pm but "in the evening", morning, noon etc - and only for clarifications:
In the morning - בבוקר (baboker)
At noon - בצהריי�? (batzahara'im)
In the afternoon - �?חר הצהריי�? (achar hatzahara'im)
In the evening - בערב (ba'erev)
At night - בלילה (balayla)
Example:
I'll see you tomorrow at 7 pm, ok? - �?ר�?ה �?ותך מחר בשבע בערב, בסדר? (er'eh otcha machar besheva ba'erev, beseder?)
And just like in english, we say "and a half", "a quarter to.." etc:
A quarter to - רבע ל (reva le)
A quarter past - ורבע.. (.. vareva)
And a half - וחצי (vachetzi)
And ten minutes - ועשרה (va'asarah)***
And twenty minutes - ועשרי�? (ve'esrim)
And.. minutes - ו.. דקות (ve.. dakot)
The feminine gender of numbers is used for telling time (since "hour" - שעה - is a feminine noun.)
Examples:
It's a quarter to 6 - רבע לשש (reva leshesh)
It's 3:15 pm - השעה שלוש ורבע בצהריי�? (hasha'ah shalosh varevah batzahara'im)
. *** In addition, In Hebrew, people like to shortcut when they tell the time. Such shortcut is applied at "round" points on the minutes scale (5, 10, 20, and 25). When such approach is taking place, the above approach endures two changes: 1.) The word "minute"" will be omitted 2.) The number changes from feminine to masculine.
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