Time: Ask For and Give the Time

Ask For and Give the Time

HeyGen Introduction Video

Content

Asking for and telling the time is very important. It helps you plan your day and talk with other people. For example, if you meet friends, go to school, or watch a movie, knowing the time helps you be ready!

Before you ask for or give the time, you need to know how to read the time.

How to read the time

Clocks have two important hands:

• The short hand is the hour hand.
• The long hand is the minute hand.
• The third thin hand shows seconds, but we don’t use it that much.

Exact Hours

Look at the hour hand (the short hand). If the hour hand is on a number, that’s the exact hour. There are some examples in the image below.

In English, we use the expression “o’clock” to say the exact hour.

Also, notice that the minute hand will always be on the number 12 when we have an exact hour

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Hours with minutes

What happens when the hour hand is not on a number but between two numbers? That means the time is somewhere between those two hours. To tell the time in these cases, we also have to look at the minute hand. The minute hand shows how many minutes have passed since the last exact hour.

To know the number of minutes that have passed, remember that the clock is divided into 5-minute sections. Each number on the clock represents 5 minutes.

If less than 30 minutes have passed after the last exact hour, we say the hour and then the minutes.
Example: 3:20 → It’s three twenty.

If more than 30 minutes have passed, we say the number of minutes that are left to reach the next hour, and then that next hour.
We put the word “to” in the middle of the minutes left and the next hour.
Example: 3:40 → It’s twenty to four.

This rule is explained in the following image:

Remember: we only use “o’clock” for exact hours, when the minute hand is on the number 12. If the time is not exact, we don’t say “o’clock”.

Variations
1. As you can see, there are three cases where we can say the minutes in two ways.
– 15 minutes past OR quarter past.
6:15 = fifteen past six OR quarter past six
– 30 minutes past OR half past.
6:30 = thirty past six OR half past six
– 15 minutes to OR quarter to.
6:45 = fifteen to seven OR quarter to seven

In the examples, you can also notice that we don’t need to say the word “minutes” when we tell the time.

2. There is also an easier way to tell the time: just say the hour and then the number of minutes:
– 6:15 = six fifteen
– 6:30 = six thirty
– 6:45 = six forty-five

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Now, practice telling the time yourself with the following video.

You can also practice with the following interactive clock:

Click here to access the interactive clock

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How to Ask for the Time

There are different ways to ask the time. Here are some common ones:

• “What time is it?”
  • This is the most common way to ask for the time.
  • Example: “Excuse me, what time is it?”
• “Do you have the time?”
  • This is a more polite way to ask for the time.
  • Example: “Do you have the time, please?”
• “Could you tell me the time?”
  • A more formal way to ask for the time.
  • Example: “Could you tell me the time?”

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How to Give the Time

Here are some easy ways to give the time in English

• “It’s (hour) o’clock.”
  • You can say this for exact hours.
  • Example: 3:00 = “It’s 3 o’clock.”
• “It’s (hour) and (minutes).”
  • This is how we say the exact time with minutes.
  • Example: 5:14 = “It’s five fourteen”
• “It’s (minutes) past (hour).”
  • Use this for times when the minute hand is between 1 and 30 minutes.
  • Example: 10:20 =“It’s twenty past ten.”
• “It’s (minutes) to (hour).”
  • We use this when the minute hand is after 30 minutes.
  • Example: 6:50 =“It’s ten to seven”

The next video shows some real-life examples of people asking for and giving the time.

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Review

Here is an image and a video summarizing this lesson.

The next video is also a good summary of what we’ve seen in this lesson.

Practice Zone

1. This first game begins by reviewing how to tell the time. Once you being the game (by clicking on the arrow under the word “Time”) you have to choose the correct time shown on the clock. For every correct answer, you move one step across the bridge. If you get one wrong, you have to start again. Try to cross the whole bridge!

Click here to access the bridge-crossing game.

2. This next activity is a mixture of writing and selecting the correct time shown on a clock.

Click to access the time-reading activity

3. In the following activity, you will listen to the time and must choose the correct clock that shows it.

Click here to access the “listening” time activity

4. In this final activity, you have to select the correct time shown on the clock.