How to Tell the Time in German?

Excuse me, can you tell me what time it is, please?

How many times has a total stranger asked you this? Checking the time on your watch or smartphone is one thing, but telling the time in German can be tricky.

Germans are very punctual people – after all, they are known for their love of order and tidiness.  So it should come as no surprise, learning how to tell the time in German is an essential and basic skill you should acquire.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve been asked to tell the time on a street in Berlin or Frankfurt – and I was glad I had paid attention to my German teachers patiently explaining the right way of telling the time.

Telling the Time in German – Basic Expressions

• 🇩🇪 Wie spät ist es? – 🇺🇸 What time is it?
• 🇩🇪 Es ist fünfzehn Uhr. – 🇺🇸 It is three p.m.
• 🇩🇪 Der Zug fährt um acht Uhr dreißig ab. – 🇺🇸 The train departs at 8.30.
• 🇩🇪 Der Unterricht endet zwanzig nach drei. – 🇺🇸 The lesson ends at 15.20.
• 🇩🇪 Es ist Viertel vor fünf. – 🇺🇸 It is quarter to five.
• 🇩🇪 Das Meeting startet um dreiviertel vier. – 🇺🇸 The meeting starts at quarter to four. 

Let’s start with the basics – and don’t worry, telling the time in German is not as complex as you may think.

The first and most important thing you will need is numbers.

We will use the numbers 1 to 24 for hours and count up to 60 minutes.

It goes like this:

 Asking for the Time in German

To tell the time in German, you will also need some essential words:

🇩🇪 die/eine Stunde – 🇺🇸 an hour
🇩🇪 die/eine Minute – 🇺🇸 a minute
🇩🇪 die/eine Sekunde – 🇺🇸 a second

When you want to ask a stranger what time it is, you use the question word “wie?”:

🇩🇪 Wie viel Uhr ist es?
🇺🇸 What time is it?

or

🇩🇪 Wie spät ist es?
Literally: 🇺🇸 How late is it?

In more official situations, or when you want to be more polite, you can add:

🇩🇪 Entschuldigung, wie spät ist es?

And if you want to be even more polite, e.g., when you’re speaking with a much older person, you could say:

Entschuldigen Sie, wie viel Uhr ist es?

Simple hours in German

like 9 a.m., 4 p.m., 12 p.m., etc.

There are two ways to tell the time in German.

12-hour clock

The first way is very similar to the English one – you use the 12-hour clock. It is pretty standard in everyday situations, as it is short and easy to use.

Let’s see how it is built:

🇩🇪 Es ist neun Uhr morgens/abends.
🇺🇸 It’s nine a.m./p.m.

The time in German is always singular, so remember always to use “Es ist” when telling the time:

🇩🇪 Es ist zwei Uhr.
🇺🇸 It’s two o’clock.

🇩🇪 Es ist acht Uhr morgens.
🇺🇸 It’s eight a.m.  

🇩🇪 Es ist drei Uhr nachmittags.
🇺🇸 It’s three p.m.

Did you notice that we did not specify whether it’s 2 a.m. or p.m. in the first example? If it’s not obvious from the context, Germans will add one of these five words to let you know which part of the day they are referring to:

morgens – 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
vormittags – 11 a.m. – 12 a.m.
nachmittags – 1 p.m. – 5 p.m
abends – 6 p.m. – 11 p.m.
nachts –  12 p.m. – 5 a.m.

Remember that exact times may differ for everyone – depending on people’s sleeping habits or which part of Germany they live in. 

24-hour clock

Now, the second way to express time in German uses the 24-hour clock. It is also quite commonly used in everyday life, especially at work or for doctor appointments.

🇩🇪 Das Meeting fängt um dreizehn Uhr an.
🇺🇸 The meeting starts at one p.m.

🇩🇪 Der nächste Zug fährt um zwanzig Uhr ab.
🇺🇸 The next train leaves at eight p.m.

🇩🇪 Wir kommen in Berlin um dreiundzwanzig Uhr an.
🇺🇸 We arrive in Berlin at eleven p.m.

🇩🇪 Sie haben einen Termin beim Zahnarzt morgen um siebzehn Uhr.
🇺🇸 You have a dentist appointment tomorrow at five p.m.

Telling the Exact Time  

But how do you tell someone that you do things at a specific time?

Here, you will use the word “um”. It works like this:

🇩🇪 Mein Unterricht startet um acht Uhr morgens.
🇺🇸 My lesson starts at eight a.m.

🇩🇪 Dein Zug kommt um fünf Uhr nachmittags an.
🇺🇸 Your train arrives at five p.m.

🇩🇪 Ich bin um elf Uhr abends ins Bett gegangen.
🇺🇸 I went to bed at eleven p.m.

Minutes in German.

Time flies, and things happen, but they don’t always keep to exact hours.

It may be 2:05 p.m.

Or quarter past five.

How to phrase it in German? Take a look:

1: Numerically

🇩🇪 Es ist fünf nach zwei Uhr nachmittags.
🇺🇸 It is five past two p.m.

🇩🇪 Es ist acht Uhr zweiundzwanzig.
🇺🇸 It is 8:22.

🇩🇪 Es ist neunzehn Uhr zwanzig.
🇺🇸 It’s 7:20 p.m.

🇩🇪 Es ist zehn vor acht.
🇺🇸 It’s 7:50.

Did you notice that we didn’t specify which part of the day we’re referring to? In German, you will often leave it out if it’s clear from the context.

2. Using quarters and halves

It is pretty common in English – and German is not very different.

We say: it’s half-past eight.

Or quarter past two.

How does it look in German?

🇩🇪 das/ein Viertel – 🇺🇸 a quarter
🇩🇪 halb – 🇺🇸 half

🇩🇪 Es ist halb neun.
🇺🇸 It’s half-past eight.

🇩🇪 Es ist Viertel nach elf.
🇺🇸 It’s quarter past 11 a.m.

🇩🇪 Es ist Viertel vor vier.
🇺🇸 It’s quarter to four.

🇩🇪 Es ist dreiviertel vier.
🇺🇸 It’s quarter to four.

Did you notice that there are two different ways to say it is a quarter to an hour? In Western and Northern Germany, people tend to use the “Viertel vor”, but in the rest of the country, you will hear “dreiviertel” instead.

🇩🇪 Es ist dreiviertel drei in Berlin.
🇺🇸 It’s 2:45 in Berlin.

but

🇩🇪 Es ist viertel vor drei in Hamburg.
🇺🇸 It’s 2:45 in Hamburg.

Now, take a look at the examples above. Do you see how the words “past and to “are” used?

🇩🇪 nach – 🇺🇸 past
🇩🇪 vor – 🇺🇸 to

Just like in the English language, the minutes always go before the hours. Let’s look again:

🇩🇪 Es ist zwanzig nach acht.
🇺🇸 It’s twenty past eight.

🇩🇪 Es ist Viertel vor neun.
🇺🇸 It’s quarter to nine.

🇩🇪 Es ist zehn nach drei.
🇺🇸 It’s ten past three.

10 Useful phrases to tell the time in German

It wasn’t all too complicated, was it?

Before we finish our lesson, I want to share some expressions that may help you tell the time in everyday situations.

Let’s take a look at the dialogs below:

🇩🇪
A: Wann endet dein Meeting?
B: Es endete vor zwanzig Minuten.
🇺🇸
A: When does your meeting end?
B: It ended twenty minutes ago.

🇩🇪
A: Wann kommst du morgen ins Büro?
B: Ich weiß noch nicht, aber wahrscheinlich gegen neun.
🇺🇸
A: When will you arrive at the office tomorrow?
B: I don’t know yet, but probably around 9 a.m.

🇩🇪
A: Bis wann brauchst du diese Unterlagen?
B: Ich brauche sie bis spätestens vierzehn Uhr dreißig.
🇺🇸
A: When do you need these documents by?
B: I need them by 2:30 p.m. at the latest.

🇩🇪
A: Wann können wir uns morgen treffen?
B: Ich arbeite morgen bis drei, also frühstens um vier.
🇺🇸
A: When can we meet tomorrow?
B: I work tomorrow until three, so not earlier than four p.m.

🇩🇪
A: Wann startet der Film?
B: Der Film fängt um Punkt acht Uhr an.
🇺🇸
A: When does the movie start?
B: The movie starts at eight sharp.

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