Telling Time 19:30 (Hours:Minutes) in US American and UK British English. How To Say What Time It Is, Civil, Military and Casual, Written Out in Words. Influenced by Digital. Time to Words Converter

What time is it? Telling time: 19:30
Write Out (the) Time in Words

Telling time using: 1. Civil Time. 2. Casual Time, influenced by the digital. 3. Casual Time, rounding up or down. 4. Military Time.

A. Writing and telling time in American English


1. Telling time using Civil Time
Time written out in words, in American English:

[ | ] - Either could be used.

19:30 = half [after | past] seven in the evening.



2. Telling time using Casual Time, influenced by the digital
Time written out in words, in American English:

To differentiate between the hours until noon and those after noon, an additional indicator is used to display time: a.m. (ante meridiem - before noon) and p.m. (post meridiem - after the noon).


p.m. = post meridiem (after the noon).

[ | ] - Either could be used.

19:30 = seven thirty [p.m. | in the evening].

3. Telling time using Casual Time, Rounding Up or Down
Time written out in words, American English:

When telling time many of us use to round off the number of minutes to the nearest multiple of 5.

In our case we don't have to round the number of minutes up or down.


[ | ] - Either could be used.

19:30 = half [after | past] seven in the evening.


4. Telling time using Military Time
Time written out in words, American English

No semicolon between numeric hours and minutes.

Military time is used to avoid any possible confusion between a.m. - ante meridiem (morning, before noon) and p.m. - post meridiem (after the noon).

Each day is made up of a single 24-hour period, beginning at midnight.

1930 hours = nineteen thirty hours.


B. Writing and telling the time 19:30 in (UK) British English

1. Telling the time, Civil Time:

half past seven in the evening.

2. Telling the time, Casual Time:

seven thirty [p.m. | in the evening].

[ | ] - Either could be used.

p.m. = post meridiem (after the noon).


How to tell (the) time în English:

The minutes:

The number of minutes is said first then the number of hours, unless the hour is sharp (on the dot - i.e. five o'clock), in which case the number of minutes is not said.

The word 'minutes' is not said when the number of minutes is a multiple of 5 (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, ...).

In our case the number of minutes is exactly 30 (half an hour).

The number of minutes is said as the time that has passed over the current hour.

You always say: 'half [after | past]' and not: 'half [of | till | until | before | to]'.

The hours:

Civil time day is divided into two 12-hour periods beginning alternately at 12 at midnight and at 12 at noon.

Since our number of hours is more than a 12-hour period, subtract 12 from our number of hours: 19 - 12 = 7.


Analog clocks - Did you know?

  • The minute hand revolves 12 times faster than the hour hand: the hour hand goes once around the clock every 12 hours while the minute hand goes once around the clock every 1 hour.
  • The second hand revolves 60 times faster than the minute hand: the minute hand goes once around the clock every 60 minutes, while the second hand goes once around the clock every one minute; and 12 × 60 = 720 times faster than the hour hand.
  • The way we are telling time is a direct result of the way the analog clocks (mechanical clocks, with hands) looked like in the past (they still look almost the same).

» How to Telling time: 19:29 (hours : minutes). Converting, Saying and Writing Time in Words, with letters, in both American English and British English. Civil, Military and Casual Time

» How to Telling time: 19:31 (hours : minutes). Converting, Saying and Writing Time in Words, with letters, in both American English and British English. Civil, Military and Casual Time

» The List of the Monthly Tables Containing Hours and Minutes Written Out in Words - Conversions Run by Our Visitors, Organized on a Monthly Basis


Telling (the) Time: How to Say and Write Out (the) Time in (US) American and (UK) British English. Civil, Military and Casual Time to Words

Getting Started:

  • One hour (1h) is 60 minutes, and one day is 24 hours (24h).
  • In order to read the time, one day can be divided into two 12-hour (12h) periods, both for analog clocks, with hands and digital clocks, or in a single 24-hour (24h) period in the case of digital clocks.
  • The electronic clocks show the time such as: "hh:mm ss", where hh represent the hours, mm represent the minutes and ss the seconds. The electronic clocks can use the two 12-hour (12h) periods or the 24-hour (24h) period time representation (time keeping system).
  • In the case of 24h system the time runs continuously between 00:00 (at midnight), it passes by the 12:00 (at noon) to almost reach again the midnight at one minute before zero, at 23:59.
  • In the case of 12h time system the midnight is 12:00 a.m. while the noon is 12 p.m.
  • The equivalent of the 24-hour system 11:00 hours in the 12-hour system is 11:00 a.m. (the same). The equivalent of 13:00 hours is 01:00 p.m. (subtract 12 from 13).
  • a.m. = ante meridiem (morning, before noon).
  • p.m. = post meridiem (after the noon).

Time in Digital Format:

  • Day is divided into two 12-hour periods beginning alternately at midnight and noon, in the case of the electronic watches that display the time in the 12h system, or in a single period of 24-hour, in the case of the watches that display the time in the 24 system.
  • a.m. = ante meridiem (morning, before noon).
  • p.m. = post meridiem (after the noon).
  • When telling time the hours are said first then the minutes.
  • In the digital format, when the minutes are said, they always indicate how many minutes have passed over the current hour.

Civil Time (Using the 12-hour System Time):

  • Day is divided into two 12-hour periods beginning alternately at 12 at midnight and at 12 at noon.
  • When telling time the number of minutes is said first then the hours.
  • When the minutes are said they either indicate how many minutes have passed over the current hour, or how many minutes are there up to the next hour. If more than 30 minutes have passed over the current hour, the minutes will indicate the number of minutes remaining until the next hour, otherwise they'll indicate the number of minutes that have passed over the current hour.

Military Time (using the 24-hour system time):

  • The 12 hour system could create an unnecessary source of errors (as to which of the two iterations of a given hour is occurring in the 12-hour system) in areas where errors are not acceptable, ie. military, police, medical, emergency services. The Military Time is even used by individuals who live and work in polar environments (where a polar day could last for several months).
  • In the Military Time, the day is made up of a single 24-hour period beginning at 00:00 midnight. Each hour in the day is unique and cannot be confused with any other.
  • There are no semicolon between the numeric hours and minutes, ie. instead of 19:55 Civil Time you must write 1955 Military Time.

Casual Time (using the 12-hour system time):

  • This is the digital time in the 12h system. See the paragraph above. But instead of a.m. or p.m. one could also say "in the morning", or "in the afternoon", or "in the evening", or "at night"...

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