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A1 · Numbers, time and dates

Hoe laat is het? Telling the time

the time with half, kwart, voor and over

Topic 25 of 90 · about 8 minutes

Your goal

You can tell the time, including with half, and understand when people count towards the half hour: half elf.

Hoe laat is het? Het is half elf.What time is it? It is half past ten.

De winkel gaat om negen uur open.The shop opens at nine o’clock.

De bus vertrekt om vijf over half acht.The bus leaves at 7:35.

Done at 8 of 10 · about 4 min

Explainer video

Watch first – then practise

The essentials

Rememberhalf points to the next hour — and from :20 to :40 everything revolves around half.

half drie is 2:30, and from twenty past you already count towards the half hour.

Signal words: hoe laat
uur
half
kwart
over
voor
om

The form

The patterns at a glance

Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Dutch.

3:00	drie uur
3:05 / 3:10	vijf over drie, tien over drie
3:15	kwart over drie
3:20 / 3:25	tien voor half vier, vijf voor half vier
3:30	half vier
3:35 / 3:40	vijf over half vier, tien over half vier
3:45 / 3:50	kwart voor vier, tien voor vier

The rules one by one

The form this topic is about

Full hours take uur.
Het is negen uur.It is nine o’clock.
half names the coming hour: half drie is 2:30.
De film begint om half drie.The film starts at half past two.
From :20 to :40 you count from half.
Het is tien voor half zes.It is twenty past five.

More rules (2)

kwart over and kwart voor are quarter past and quarter to.
We eten om kwart over zeven.We eat at a quarter past seven.
“At” is om, “around” is rond.
Ik ben rond vijf uur thuis.I am home at about five o’clock.

Example sentences

6 more example sentences

Het is al kwart voor twaalf!It is already a quarter to twelve!

We spreken af om tien over twee.We are meeting at ten past two.

Hoe laat begint de les?What time does the lesson start?

Ik sta om half zeven op.I get up at half past six.

Het is vijf voor half negen.It is 8:25.

De vergadering duurt tot kwart over vier.The meeting lasts until a quarter past four.

The trap English speakers fall into

Watch out

If you translate “twenty past three” word for word you get twintig over drie. People will understand, but it sounds foreign — the usual form counts back from the half hour: tien voor half vier. And a warning for British speakers: half vier is not “half four” in the sense of 4:30, but 3:30. English “half four” (casual, 4:30) and Dutch half vier (3:30) are exactly an hour apart.

Wrong:Het is twintig over drie.

Right:Het is tien voor half vier.

Lesson

The full explanation

Read it all · about 1 min

You ask Hoe laat is het? (“What time is it?”) and answer Het is …. Full hours take uur: Het is drie uur. “At” is om: om acht uur. For the minutes there are over (past) and voor (to), and for the quarter hour kwart: kwart over drie (3:15), kwart voor vier (3:45).

Here is the trap for English speakers. half counts towards the next hour: half vier is 3:30, “half past three”. If you read it as the casual British “half four” (4:30), you will be an hour out; think of it as “half way to four”. What is new is what happens around it: from twenty past to twenty to, you count from half. 3:20 is tien voor half vier, 3:25 vijf voor half vier, 3:35 vijf over half vier, 3:40 tien over half vier.

On timetables, on the radio and for appointments you also hear the twenty-four-hour clock: om negentien uur dertig (19:30). In everyday speech people prefer half acht ’s avonds. For “around” there is rond or tegen: rond drie uur.

A closer look

Parts of the day as well

Whether it is morning or evening is said with ’s ochtends, ’s middags, ’s avonds or ’s nachts after the time — instead of English “a.m.” and “p.m.”: om acht uur ’s avonds. Noon is twaalf uur ’s middags, midnight middernacht or twaalf uur ’s nachts.

Exceptions and special cases1

Exception
When it is about timetables, announcements or opening hours
then hour and minute are given on the twenty-four-hour clock: om zeventien uur vijftien.
De trein vertrekt om achttien uur twaalf.The train leaves at 18:12.
Why? There nothing may be misunderstood, and counting around half would be too awkward.

Worth knowing2

Worth knowing
In Flanders: na instead of over
In Flanders you often hear na instead of over for “past”: kwart na drie, vijf na half vier. The system with half is the same.
Het is kwart na drie.It is a quarter past three.
Worth knowing
uur and uren
uur is both “o’clock” and “hour”. After a number it stays singular: twee uur means “two o’clock” or “two hours”. The plural exists only without a number: uren wachten (to wait for hours).
Ik heb twee uur gewacht.I waited for two hours.

The verbs on this page, in every form: zijn · beginnen · vertrekken · gaan · spreken