Telling the Time
Telling the Time
Dutch clock time works from a different reference point than English: where English counts minutes forward from the hour just passed, Dutch anchors the half hour to the hour that is still coming. 'Half vier' is not four-thirty but three-thirty, and getting this backwards is the single most expensive mistake a learner can make when arranging to meet someone.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
half + hour means half an hour BEFORE that hour
half vier = 3:30 (literally 'half four', but meaning half an hour short of four)
half past three
English 'half four' (in the colloquial British sense) and 'half past four' both mean 4:30 — the hour named is the one already reached. Dutch names the hour being approached instead: half vier is 3:30, half zeven is 6:30, half een is 12:30. There is no way to shortcut this by translating word for word; you have to subtract one from the number you hear. Speakers do not perceive this as counting backwards — for them the half hour simply belongs to the hour it is heading toward.
kwart over and kwart voor: quarters take over/voor, not 'past/to'
kwart over twee (2:15), kwart voor negen (8:45)
quarter past two, quarter to nine
Quarters behave the way English speakers expect: over ('past') counts up from the hour just gone, voor ('to') counts down to the hour coming. Note that Dutch uses no article — kwart over twee, never 'een kwart over twee' — while English requires 'a quarter past two' in careful speech. The same over/voor pair handles loose minutes too: vijf over drie (3:05), tien voor vier (3:50).
Minutes near the half hour are counted from the half, not the hour
tien voor half zes = 5:20, vijf over half zes = 5:35
twenty past five, twenty-five to six
For the ten minutes either side of the half hour, Dutch stops measuring from the hour altogether and measures from the half instead. 5:20 is tien voor half zes — 'ten before half six', i.e. ten minutes before 5:30. 5:35 is vijf over half zes. English has no equivalent construction at all; it keeps counting from the hour ('twenty past five'). In practice you will hear digital-style times too — vijf uur twintig — especially for timetables, but the half-based system dominates in speech.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- What time is it?
- English
- it is three o'clock
- English
- half past three
- English
- quarter past two
- English
- quarter to nine
- English
- twenty past five
- English
- the morning
- English
- the afternoon
- English
- the evening
- English
- the night
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