On this list, you can see different parts of the day with their approximate time:

Remember, time is inexact and it can change based on the geographical area.

One way to read the time is to tell it in a digital way. Another way is to use the analogue way.

A digital clock only shows the numbers and it has no hands. When reading these clocks, you just read the numbers you see one by one. Look at the examples for more information.

When you are reading a digital clock, you have to read the hour as a separate number and the minutes as another number. Remember, when the minutes are less than ten you should use 'oh' to stand for zero in the clock and if there are two zeros in the minute section, you have to read it as o'clock. For example:

An analogue (also analog) clock has three hands, one shows the hour, another shows the minute, and the other shows seconds.

When the minute hand is pointing at a number before six, you have to use the word past to tell the minute; but when the minute hand points to a number after six, you use the word 'to'. Here are some examples:

When you are telling the time, you usually do not use the word 'minute', but you can also use it to be clear. For example:

When there are no minutes, you can express the time by either not reading it or using o'clock. Here are a few examples:

Every fifteen minutes in time is called a quarter, so when there are fifteen minutes in time we can also use a quarter. Take a look at the examples:

Every thirty minutes in time equals a half. As a result, we can use it instead of thirty minutes. Look at the examples:

When the minute hand is on six, we do not use the word to, instead, we use the word past to tell the time. Check out the examples:

The figure below shows how you can tell the time on an Analogue clock:

There are many ways to ask about the time, and regardless of who you are asking or the context of the situation, it is important to maintain a polite tone. Here are some common ways to ask the time.

This is the most common question for asking the time. This is an informal way to ask the time. There are some more similar expressions for informal contexts:

Using "could you" and "please" is a more formal and polite way of asking the time. If you want to sound even more polite, you can use the following examples:

There are other structures to ask about specific times. Let's check some examples:

We can also replace 'what time' with 'when' to ask these questions.

If someone asks you what time it is, you can answer them using 'It Is' or 'It’s'.

If someone asks you about a specific time, you can answer them using 'at + the time'

If you don't know the time or you do not have a watch on you, you can use the following phrases.

There are three prepositions that we can use to express time.

We usually use 'at' to point to a specific time.

We can use 'on' to refer to days or dates.

We can use 'in' to refer to longer periods, such as months, years, etc.

A day has 24 hours. Using a 12-hour clock system can make it a bit confusing for us to tell the time. That is why we use AM and PM to clarify. Let’s see what they stand for:
AM is an abbreviation form of the Latin Ante meridiem meaning before noon, and PM is an abbreviation form of the Latin post meridiem meaning after noon. Therefore, we use AM for the time after midnight (12:00 midnight) until midday (12:00 midday), and we use PM for after midday (12:00 midday) until midnight (12:00 midnight). Let's see some examples:

In British English, these abbreviations are usually written as a.m. and p.m., in lowercase and with full stops. In American English, they are written in uppercase letters and without full stops (AM/PM). They are both correct and you can use them depending on the variety of English you are using.

Military time is a 24 hours system of measuring time; it is also referred to as '24-hour clock'. Most Americans do not use this system. Military time always has four digits starting at 0000 (zero hundred) and finishing at 2359 (twenty-three fifty-nine). From 0000 to 1159 corresponds to AM time, and from 1200 to 2359 corresponds to PM time. Here are some examples:

When we write the time in its numerical form, we can use different punctuation to separate the hours, minutes, and seconds. We can use colons, periods, and in the military case, no punctuation at all.