Telling Time in German

In this German lesson, we’ll explore all the ways Germans tell time, from the basics to brain busting. Get ready to uncover the mysteries of German time-telling and learn things that might even surprise a native speaker!

Background Knowledge

First of all, yes, it will help if you know your numbers in German. Ideally at least up until 60, but you could probably get by, if you only know your numbers in German up to 30.

Learn more about time and numbers with these lessons!

Numbers 1-100

Big German Numbers

Telling Time

Word Order with Time 

How to Read and Write Dates

Basic German Time Telling

The most basic way of telling time in German is simply saying a number.

Wie spät ist es? -
What time is it?
Es ist vier. -
It is four.

Wie spät ist es? -
What time is it?
Es ist eins. -
It is one.

If you want to say “o’clock” in German, you use the word “Uhr”, which is also the word for a clock, which causes some complications I’ll explain after these examples.

Wie viel Uhr ist es? -
What time is it?
Es ist fünf Uhr. -
It is five o’clock.

Wie viel Uhr ist es? -
What time is it?
Es ist ein Uhr. -
It is one o’clock.

Did you notice the change between “Es ist eins.” and “Es ist ein Uhr.”? “Eins” became “ein” due to the use of the word “Uhr”. If you choose to include “Uhr”, you can’t have the S at the end of “ein”.

Uhr - A Clock or O'Clock? 

Remember how I said that “Uhr” is also the German word for a clock? Well, it is a feminine noun. This means you can say “die Uhr” or “eine Uhr” to say “the clock” and “a clock” respectively.

Was ist das? -
What is that?
Das ist die Uhr. -
That is the clock.

Was ist das? -
What is that?
Das ist eine Uhr. -
That is a clock.

Quick Side Note: “Eine Uhr” can also be “a watch”, as it is a shortened version of “eine Armbanduhr” which would be like calling a watch a wrist watch. Most people don’t carry a “Taschenuhr” (pocket watch) anymore, so “Uhr” is sufficient for talking about a watch.

Entschuldigung. Haben Sie eine Uhr? -
Excuse me. Do you have a watch?
Ja, es ist drei Uhr. -
Yes, it is three o’clock.

If you want to say “exactly” a particular hour, you can use the word “Punkt”.

Es ist Punkt sieben Uhr. -
It is exactly seven o’clock.
Der Zug fährt um Punkt sieben Uhr ab. -
The train departs at exactly seven o’clock.

You can also use “genau”.

Es ist genau sieben Uhr. -  
It is exactly seven o'clock. 

How to Ask for the Time in German

So far I have introduced you to two different ways to directly ask for the time: Wie spät ist es? (Literally: How late is it?) and Wie viel Uhr ist es? (Literally: How much o’clock is it?) “Wie spät ist es?” is slightly more formal, while “Wie viel Uhr ist es?” is more colloquial. You can also use the question word “wann” to ask “when” something is happening.

Wann beginnt der Film? -
When does the film start?
Wann fängt das Rennen an? -
When does the race start?

Hours and Minutes

Now let’s take a look at what happens when we add minutes into the equation.

Es ist sechs Uhr acht. -
It is six (oh) eight (6:08)
Es ist sieben Uhr neun. -
It is seven (oh) nine (7:09)

Literally all I did here is add the minutes after the word “Uhr”. You could think of it as the word “Uhr” standing in the place that the colon goes in a digital display of time.

vor - before, until

If you want to say “until” or “before”, we use the word “vor” and similar phrasing to the English.

Es ist zehn vor elf. -
It is ten till eleven (10:50).
Es ist zwölf vor dreizehn Uhr. -
It is twelve before thirteen (12:48)

Yes, there is “thirteen o’clock” in German. Traditionally, Germans use the 24 hour clock to express time. While this is true in official documents (like train schedules) and formal situations (like meeting times at work), in daily conversation, many Germans will use the 12 hour clock and either context words I explain later in this video or simply conversational context. If I say we are meeting for dinner at 6, I obviously am not talking about 6 in the morning.

nach - past, after

If you want to say “after” or “past” an hour in German, use the word “nach” in the same way we did “vor”.

Es ist fünf nach drei. -
It is five after three.
Es ist drei Minuten nach vier Uhr. -
It is three minutes past four o’clock.

The use of the word “Minuten” to indicate minutes and “Uhr” to mean “o’clock” in German are completely optional in these sentences. You can say this phrase with any combination of those words or lack thereof.

Es ist drei Minuten nach vier Uhr. -
It is three minutes after four o’clock.
Es ist drei nach vier Uhr. -
It is three after four o’clock.
Es ist drei nach vier. -
It is three after four.
Es ist drei Minuten nach vier. -
It is three minutes after four.

One word of caution, however. If you are using “vor” or “nach”, it is not normal to use the 24 hour clock. This is true of most of the other more casual ways to say time expressions in German.

Es ist fünf Minuten nach sechzehn Uhr. -
It is five minutes after sixteen o’clock (16:15 or 4:15 PM).

This sounds clunky. You should just say “fünf nach vier” instead, although this is not the most egregious of the expressions I’ll get to in this video, it is the first in a list of phrases you can’t really use with the 24 hour clock.

Viertel - quarter

Since we are already on the topic of “vor” and “nach”, you can use those prepositions with “Viertel” to mean “quarter”, as in “Viertel vor” (quarter til) and “Viertel nach” (quarter after).

Es ist Viertel nach acht. -
It is a quarter after eight (8:15).
Es ist Viertel vor neun. -
It is a quarter to nine (8:45).

halb - half

To say “half” in German we say “halb”. Unlike in English, “halb” is used to mean “half to” the next hour instead of “half past” the previous hour. And for those of you about to ask in the comments, no, you can’t say “halb nach” an hour”. It doesn’t work like that.

Es ist halb sechs. -
It is half past five (half 6 = 5:30)
Es ist halb acht. -
It is half past seven (half 8 = 7:30)

The Weird Stuff

Now let’s get to the weird stuff. Sometimes, in certain regions of Germany, for some reason almost always when you travel further south in the country, you will encounter strange ways of telling time. This includes combining “vor” or “nach” with an expression of “halb” and an hour. Usually this is reserved for 5 or 10 minutes before the half hour.

Es ist zehn vor halb neun. -
It is ten before half past eight (10 before ½ of 9 = 8:20)
Es ist fünf nach halb zehn. -
It is five after half past nine (5 before ½ of 10 = 9:35)

Another strange way to tell time uses “Viertel” in the same way “halb” is used instead of using the words “vor” or “nach”. This means you can say “one quarter of the way towards the next hour” by saying “Viertel” and the next hour.

Es ist Viertel elf. -
It is a quarter of the way towards eleven. (¼ of 11 = 10:15)
Es ist Viertel zwölf. -
It is a quarter of the way towards twelve. (¼ of 12 = 11:15)

Even weirder is that you can use three quarters in the same way.

Es ist dreiviertel zwei. -
It is three quarters of the way towards two. (¾ of 2 = 1:45)
Es ist dreiviertel drei. -
It is three quarters of the way towards three (¾ of 3 = 2:45)

Both the use of quarters without “vor” or “nach” and the use of half hours plus or minus a few minutes are not commonly used and even some Germans have difficulty with understanding these phrases. If you are a beginner, trust me, Germans will notice when you are speaking to them and they will use simpler ways of telling the time.

If you don’t get it the first time, you can simply say “Wie, bitte” or “Noch einmal bitte” to express that you don’t understand and they will likely rephrase.

How to Use "um" with Time in German

You have seen me use the preposition “um” in front of a lot of the time expressions in the example sentences I have given. This is similar to the English word “at” when used in front of time.

Um wie viel Uhr beginnt das Spiel? -
At what time does the game begin?
Das Spiel beginnt um drei Uhr am Nachmittag. -
The game begins at three o’clock in the afternoon.

Parts of the Day in German

I mentioned earlier that Germans use the 24 hour clock in official capacities, but the 12 hour clock in casual conversation. I also said that they use indicator words to tell us if they mean AM or PM. You’ll notice I didn’t say they say “AM” or “PM”, because they simply don’t. You can add “am” in front of the part of the day, such as “Morgen”, “Nachmittag” and “Abend”.

Wir treffen uns um acht Uhr am Abend. -
We are meeting at eight in the evening.
Das Spiel beginnt um vier Uhr am Nachmittag. -
The game begins at four in the afternoon.
Die Schule beginnt um sieben Uhr fünfzehn am Morgen. -
School begins at seven fifteen in the morning.

You can also use a lowercase version of those parts of the day without “am”, if you add an S to the end of them. While “am Morgen” refers to a particular morning based on the context of the conversation, “morgens” refers to mornings in general, as a regular occurrence.

Um sieben Uhr abends esse ich mit meiner Familie zu Abend. -
At seven in the evening I eat dinner with my family.
Er trainiert um fünf Uhr nachmittags. -
He works out at five o’clock in the afternoon.
Wir essen morgens um sechs Uhr Frühstück. -
We eat breakfast at six in the morning.

In addition to “Nachmittag”, there is also “Vormittag”, which is prior to noon, generally from about 9 AM right up until noon.

Die Stadtführung beginnt um elf Uhr am Vormittag. -
The city tour starts at eleven o’clock in the midmorning.
Diese Buslinie fährt vormittags um zehn Uhr los. -
This bus line departs midmornings at ten o’clock.

You may have noticed that I left out “night” from the previous examples. That’s because instead of saying “am” in front of “Nacht”, because it is a feminine noun, we say “in der Nacht”. The version with an S at the end is not affected by this difference.

Wir sind bis elf Uhr in der Nacht aufgeblieben. -
We stayed up until eleven at night.
Ich gehe normalerweise um zehn Uhr nachts ins Bett. -
I usually go to bed at ten o’clock at night.

To say midnight, you can say one of three options.

Es ist Mitternacht. -
It is midnight.
Es ist null Uhr. -
It is zero o’clock.
Es ist vierundzwanzig Uhr. -
It is twenty-four o’clock.

Considering the stereotype that Germans are very time-oriented and punctual, you may find it odd that when they say “Mittag”, which means “midday” or “noon”, they don’t actually mean a precise time most of the time. It is really sometime between noon and two.

An Overview of Time Telling Options in German

Let’s go around the clock and see the various ways we can tell the time.

11:00

Wie spät ist es? -
What time is is?
Es ist Punkt elf. -
It is exactly eleven.
Es ist elf Uhr. -
It is eleven o’clock.

11:05

Es ist elf Uhr fünf. -
It is eleven oh five.

11:10

Es ist zehn nach elf. -
It is ten after eleven.

11:15

Es ist Viertel nach elf. -
It is a quarter after eleven.
Es ist Viertel zwölf. -
It is a quarter of the way to twelve.

11:20

Es ist zwanzig Minuten nach elf Uhr. -
It is twenty minutes after eleven o’clock.
Es ist zehn vor halb zwölf. -
It is ten ‘til half of twelve.

11:25

Es ist elf Uhr fünfundzwanzig. -
It is eleven twenty-five.
Es ist fünf vor halb zwölf. -
It is five ‘til half of twelve.

11:30

Es ist halb zwölf. -
It is half of twelve.

11:35

Es ist fünf nach halb zwölf. -
It is five after half of twelve.
Es ist fünf Minuten nach halb zwölf Uhr. -
It is five minutes after half of twelve o’clock.

11:40

Es ist zehn nach halb zwölf. -
It is ten after half of twelve.
Es ist zwanzig vor zwölf. -
It is twenty to twelve.

11:45

Es ist Viertel vor zwölf. -
It is a quarter ‘til twelve.
Es ist dreiviertel zwölf. -
It is three quarters of twelve.

11:50

Es ist zehn vor zwölf. -
It is ten ‘til twelve.
Es ist elf Uhr fünfzig. -
It is eleven fifty.

11:55

Es ist fünf Minuten vor zwölf Uhr. -
It is five minutes until 12 o’clock.
Es ist elf Uhr fünfundfünfzig. -
It is eleven fifty-five.

12:00

Es ist zwölf Uhr. -
It is twelve o’clock.
Es ist mittag. -
It is midday.

Now that you know all about time telling in German, you should check out this lesson about where to put the time elements within German sentences.