Telling Time
Telling Time
German time expressions have one famous trap for English speakers: "halb zehn" means half past NINE, not half past ten — German counts toward the coming hour, not from the previous one.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
halb + the NEXT hour, not the previous one
halb zehn = 9:30 ("half toward ten"), not "half past ten"
9:30
English "half past nine" measures thirty minutes forward from 9:00. German halb zehn measures thirty minutes back from 10:00 — it means you're halfway toward ten o'clock, not halfway past nine. This is the single most common time-telling mistake English speakers make in German: seeing "zehn" and assuming it means "ten o'clock" territory, when it actually describes 9:30. Always subtract one from the stated hour when you hear halb.
Viertel nach / vor: quarter past / to, like English
Viertel nach neun (9:15) / Viertel vor zehn (9:45)
quarter past nine / quarter to ten
Unlike halb, this pattern maps directly onto English "quarter past" / "quarter to" — nach means "after," vor means "before," and the hour named is the one you'd expect. Official/written contexts (train schedules, TV listings) instead use the 24-hour clock with "Uhr," e.g. 21:15 Uhr, avoiding the halb ambiguity altogether.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Wie spät ist es? | vee shpayt ist es | What time is it? |
| Es ist ein Uhr. | es ist eyn oor | It's one o'clock. |
| Es ist Viertel nach neun. | es ist FEER-tel nahkh noyn | It's quarter past nine. |
| Es ist Viertel vor zehn. | es ist FEER-tel for tsayn | It's quarter to ten. |
| Es ist halb zehn. | es ist hahlp tsayn | It's 9:30 (half past nine). |
| die Stunde | dee SHTOON-deh | the hour |
| die Minute | dee mi-NOO-teh | the minute |
| um wie viel Uhr | oom vee feel oor | at what time |
| morgens / mittags / abends | MOR-gens / MIT-tahks / AH-bents | in the morning / at noon / in the evening |