Are you ready to learn German? If so, begin your journey by learning how to ask and tell the time. For instance, if you ask someone in Germany, “What is the time?” they will respond with “Wie spät ist es?” There are various ways to express time in German, including different formats for hours and minutes. In this blog, you’ll discover different ways to talk about time in German. So, let’s get started reading about it further.
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Asking someone for the time is a great way to start a conversation. You might already be familiar with this, but knowing different ways to ask for the time is a valuable skill. In German, the word for time is "Zeit," and learning how to use it correctly can enhance your communication. So, when you meet someone from Germany and want to test your skills, try asking, “What is the time?” in German. Below, you’ll find a table with examples to help you understand better.
| English | German |
|---|---|
| Time | Zeit |
| What’s the time? | Wie spät ist es? |
| What time is it? | Wie spät ist es? |
| Do you know what time is it? | Wissen Sie, wie spät es ist? |
| Can you tell me what time it is? | Können Sie mir sagen, wie spät es ist? |
| Could you tell me the time, please? | Könnten Sie mir bitte die Uhrzeit sagen? |
| What time do you make it? | Um wie viel Uhr schaffst du es? |
So, till now, you have learned different ways to ask “What is the time?” in German. Hopefully, these were some ways to ask for time in German. Now let's have a look at How to tell time in German.
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German is one of the trending and popular languages in the world. Besides, more than English, Spanish, and French, Germany has the largest number of native speakers. Therefore, many students want to master in German language for their career. However, learning different ways of time in German language is a good start of your preparation. Take a look at some essential words related to specific periods in German from the list below.
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Uhr | O’Clock |
| Um | At/Around |
| Heute | Today |
| Halb | Half |
| Viertel | Quarter |
| Kurz | Shortly |
| Vor | Before |
| Nach | After |
Hopefully, with the above table, you have learned what to say “Today” in German (Heute), and what to say “After” in German (Nach). Here are some examples that give details about hours and minutes in German.
“Es ist 1:30 Uhr” means, it is 1:30 am. Did you find it interesting? If yes, there are more “Wunderbar” wonderful ways to express Germany Munich time in an hour. Germans use military time instead of am/pm time. To understand the German clock, you must know the time format.
| English | German |
|---|---|
| It’s one o’clock. | Es ist ein Uhr. |
| It’s two o’clock. | Es ist zwei Uhr. |
| It’s three o’clock. | Es ist drei Uhr. |
| It’s four o’clock. | Es ist vier Uhr. |
| It’s five o’clock. | Es ist fünf Uhr. |
| It’s six o’clock. | Es ist sechs Uhr. |
| It’s seven o’clock. | Es ist sieben Uhr. |
| It’s eight o’clock. | Es ist acht Uhr. |
| It’s nine o’clock. | Es ist neun Uhr. |
| It’s ten o’clock. | Es ist zehn Uhr. |
| It’s eleven o’clock. | Es ist elf Uhr. |
| It’s twelve o’clock. | Es ist zwölf Uhr. |
| It’s thirteen o’clock. | Es ist dreizehn Uhr. |
| It’s fourteen o’clock. | Es ist vierzehn Uhr. |
| It’s fifteen o’clock. | Es ist fünfzehn Uhr. |
| It’s sixteen o’clock. | Es ist sechzehn Uhr. |
| It’s seventeen o’clock. | Es ist siebzehn Uhr. |
| It’s eighteen o’clock. | Es ist achtzehn Uhr. |
| It’s nineteen o’clock. | Es ist neunzehn Uhr. |
| It’s twenty o’clock. | Es ist zwanzig Uhr. |
| It’s twenty-one o’clock. | Es ist einundzwanzig Uhr. |
| It’s twenty-two o’clock. | Es ist zweiundzwanzig Uhr. |
| It’s twenty-three o’clock. | Es ist dreiundzwanzig Uhr. |
| It’s twenty-four o’clock. | Es ist vierundzwanzig Uhr. |
As mentioned above, Germans use military time which counts from 0-12 for the first twelve hours and 13-24 for the second half. Therefore, to know the current time in German, you have to use the hour first, followed by “Uhr” and then the current number in minutes. Learn some examples from the list below.
“Nach” and “Vor” are especially used to tell time based on 24-hour clock in German. Understand the following examples to get more details.
Read some sentences to understand the time in German language for better clarity:
So, now you have understood that “how to tell time in German?” specifically for hours and minutes.
There are many types of words to express months, years, weeks, and days in German. For example, in the Indian language, we say “Morning” and in German, it is “Morgen”. However, time in Germany and India is expressed with different words. The day in Germany starts with Morgen and ends at Nacht. So, here are some words related to time with sentence examples listed below.
| English | German | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Morgen | Es ist zehn Uhr morgens. |
| Lunchtime | Mittagszeit | Es ist Mittagszeit. |
| Afternoon | Nachmittag | Es ist vier Uhr nachmittags. |
| Daybreak | Tagesanbruch | Wir wollen bei Tagesanbruch los. |
| Sunrise | Sonnenaufgang | Wir wollen vor Sonnenaufgang los. |
| Dawn | Morgendämmerung | Ich stehe zur Morgendämmerung auf. |
| Second Breakfast | Zweites Frühstück | Es ist Zeit für ein zweites Frühstück. |
| At night | Nachts | Es ist elf Uhr nachts. |
| Midday | Mittag | Wir treffen uns am Mittag. |
| Evening | Abend | Es ist sieben Uhr abends. |
| Midnight | Mitternacht | Um Mitternacht schlafe ich. |
| Night | Nacht | Es ist drei Uhr in der Nacht. |
| At noon | Mittags | Wir treffen uns mittags. |
| Bedtime | Schlafenszeit | Es ist Schlafenszeit. |
| Nightfall | Nachteinbruch | Sei vor Nachteinbruch zuhause! |
| Breakfast Time | Frühstückszeit | Es ist Frühstückszeit. |
| Dusk | Abenddämmerung | Ich gehe zur Abenddämmerung ins Bett. |
| Sunset | Sonnenuntergang | Wir sind vor Sonnenuntergang zurück. |
| Time for coffee and cake | Kaffee und Kuchen | Am Nachmittag gibt es Kaffee und Kuchen. |
| Dinnertime | Abendessenzeit | Es ist Abendessenzeit. |
| Midmorning | Vormittag | Wir sehen uns am Vormittag. |
With the above table, you have understood how to tell time in German in days, weeks, and seasons.
Also read: You're Welcome in German.
Time-related phrases in the German language are countless. Till now, you have read the hour, minutes, and days, in German context. However, there are more examples we have listed for you to understand phrases of time in German along with sentence examples. So, let’s get started reading them from the table below.
| English | German | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Day | Tag | Es ist Tag. |
| Week | Woche | Die Woche war gut. |
| Next time | Nächstes mal | Nächstes mal komm ich mit. |
| Year | Jahr | Das Jahr war lang. |
| Yesterday | Gestern | Ich war gestern hier. |
| Today | Heute | Ich bin heute da. |
| Tomorrow | Morgen | Morgen werde ich arbeiten. |
| Month | Monat | Der Monat war zu kurz. |
| This year | Dieses Jahr | Dieses Jahr bleib ich zuhause. |
| Next year | Nächstes Jahr | Nächstes Jahr fahre ich wieder. |
| Last month | Letzten Monat | Letzten Monat konnte ich nicht kommen. |
| Last year | Letztes Jahr | Letztes Jahr war ich im Urlaub. |
| Next month | Nächsten Monat | Nächsten Monat komme ich wieder. |
| Take your time | Lass dir Zeit | Lass dir Zeit! |
| Once upon a time | Es war einmal | Es war einmal eine Prinzessin. |
| A long time | Lange Zeit | Das hab ich lange Zeit geglaubt. |
| Sometime | Irgendwann | Irgendwann komm ich mit. |
| Occasionally | Ab und zu | Ab und zu gehe ich aus. |
| Have a great time | Viel Spaß | Viel Spaß bei der Arbeit! |
| To take up time | Zeit beanspruchen | Das Projekt beansprucht viel Zeit. |
| Over time | Mit der Zeit | Es wird besser mit der Zeit. |
| Timeless | Zeitlos | Das Lied ist zeitlos |
| To buy time | Zeit verschaffen | Ich muss mir mehr Zeit verschaffen. |
| Until next time | Bis zum nächsten Mal | Bis zum nächsten Mal! |
| To spend time | Zeit verbringen | Wir haben viel Zeit zusammen verbracht. |
| All in due time. | Alles zu seiner Zeit | Alles passiert zu seiner Zeit. |
| To waste time | Zeit verschwenden | Sie verschwendet ihre Zeit. |
| In sb’s time | Zu seiner Zeit | Er kommt zu seiner Zeit. |
| This month | Diesen Monat | Diesen Monat bin ich dabei. |
| In a timely manner | Zeitnah | Erledige das bitte zeitnah. |
| To make up time | Zeit aufholen | Ich hole die Zeit wieder auf. |
The above table covers several examples of time-related phrases apart from the 24-hour clock in German. You can learn them and use them in your daily routine to learn the German language. Besides, your conversation in this language can start by saying “Hallo” which means "hello in german" language
As you know, there is a minimum 4 hours and 30 minutes difference in German and Indian time. For example, 12 pm IST to Germany time is 7:30 am, “Halb acht” or half past seven. That means, if you are talking to someone in Germany from India, that’s how you need to calculate time. However, there are more ways to express German time. Get more clarity from the table below by reading the common phrase and alternative with translation.
| Time | German common phrase | Translation | German alternative | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:15 | Es ist viertel nach zehn. | It’s quarter past ten. | Es ist viertel elf. | It’s quarter eleven. |
| 11:45 | Es ist viertel vor zwölf. | It’s a quarter before twelve. | Es ist drei viertel zwölf. | It’s three-quarters twelve. |
The above table helps you identify two different ways to express time in German. Also, you have understood the example, with translation for better clarity.
Beginners who want to learn German language need to understand the structure correctly. Especially for telling time, you need to follow guidelines to not make mistakes. Here are some examples and tips that will be beneficial to enhance your fluency while saying time in German. So, let’s move ahead and read them.
You have learned so many words related to time in German till the above information. Hopefully, now you will be able to say “Nachmittag” which means afternoon, or “Mitternacht” which means midnight. Some usual words that can be used in daily life are given in this blog. However, if you want to master this language you must join “Deutsch Online-Coaching” which means “German online coaching”. Apart from the time, you can get the opportunity to seek more interesting words in German. So, do not miss the chance and start your journey now.
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To say decades in German, use (Jahrzehnte), or to state century, use (Jahrhunderte).
“wie lang?” states how long in German.
Use the word “Militärzeit” to tell the military time in German.
Germans use the military time system because there is no use of the am and pm in English. Therefore, to refer to daytime and nighttime, Germans use a military system that starts from 0-24.
To state 3:30 am in German, use 3:30 Uhr.
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