Countdown

Imagine you're in Time's Square on New Year's Eve. On the count of ten, the big apple will slowly slide down the pole and it will be a new year. Let's start the countdown[1]! 10, 9, 8...


Telling Time


At :00 minutes, we say the hour + o'clock

For example: 3:00 = three o'clock

From :01 minutes until :30 minutes, we say the minutes past the hour.

For example: 3:20 = twenty past three

From :31 minutes until :59 minutes, we say the minutes to the hour.

For example: 3:40 = twenty to four

Morning or Afternoon


In Spanish, it’s common to talk about the hours between 13 and 24, but in English we normally do not either write or say the time in this way. This way of telling the time is commonly referred to as military time. In English, after 12 o’clock, we start at 1 o’clock again.

If it’s not obvious and we want to differentiate between morning and afternoon, after the hour, you can say AM for the morning (between 0:00 and 11:59) or PM for the afternoon (between 12:00 and 23:59).

10 AM = 10:00 in the morning

10 PM = 22:00, or 10 at night

Afternoon, Evening or Night

at noon = 12:00 PM

in the afternoon = from 12:01 to 16:00 / 17:00

in the evening = from 17:00 / 18:00 until 19:00 / 20:00 (nightfall[1])

at night = nightfall

at midnight = 24:00, or 12 AM

When we say hello to someone at night, we say good evening. We NEVER say good night. We only say good night when we say goodbye.

Happy New Year!

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[1] cuenta atrás, [2] anochecer