Telling time: 8:30 in different languages

Encolpius

Encolpius

Senior Member
Hungarian
Good morning ladies & gentlemen, I'm not sure how many of you speaks German or any Slavic language (not Hungarian, I bet), but there are two possibilities (maybe more, I know only two) to say e.g. 8:30 in different languages. Most languages (I think) use the English type, id. eight pas thirty (Romance languages, Japanese, Hebrew, Turkish), but some languages use the German type: halb neun (i.e. half + nine). Hungarian, Dutch, Slavic languages use that form. How about languages spoken by less than a 1M people, or any other languages? I cannot check all languages, so it would be nice to cooperate a make a nice unique list here on WR. Thanks Encolpius

Group A: English, Romance languages, Japanese, Hebrew, Turkish, Greek.... and?
Group B: German, Dutch, Nordic languages, Slavic languages, Hungarian... and?
 
    • Encolpius said:
    Most languages (I think) use the English type, id. eight pas thirty
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    I think you meant eight-thirty / half past eight.

    In Mexican Spanish we would say either ocho treinta or ocho y media, literally, "eight thirty" and "eight and half".

    I do speak a few Germanic languages, as well as some Russian and a little Polish, but your bet is right in my case: no Hungarian whatsoever yet. :(
    If I remember correctly, in Russian you could also say 8:30 as: восемь часов тридцать минут, though I'm not sure if that's more, less or just as common as половина девятого, I guess the latter might be preferred because of its shortness (?).

    It would also be interesting to know if there's a third group somewhere!
     
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    In Catalan in Catalonia it's dos quarts de nou* (two quarters of nine), so group B. However in Valencia and the Balearics they say les huit/vuit i mitja instead (the eight and half, cf. Spanish las ocho y media), as do many young people in Catalonia.

    * Quarters are taken from the next hour, so:

    8:15: un quart de nou
    8:30: dos quarts de nou
    8:45: tres quarts de nou
     
    Greek uses hour + half i.e. 8:30 is «οχτώμισι [o̞xˈt̠o̞mis̠i] (adverb) dissimilated colloquially, «οκτώμισι» [o̞kˈt̠o̞mis̠i] (adverb) in more formal language, both mean eighthalf; the second member in the compound «-μισι» [-mis̠i] is the Koine & Byzantine Greek inseparable element (meaning it's never found alone, in this case it's always the second member in compounds) «-μισυ» /-misy/ the aphetic form of the Classical neuter adverbialised form «ἥμισυ» /ˈhɛːmisy/ --> half, partially of Classical adjective «ἥμισυς» /ˈhɛːmisys/ --> half which is the substantival «ἥμιτυς» /ˈhɛːmitys/ of the inseparable compound element «ἡμι-» /hɛːmi-/ (in this case it's always the first member in compounds) --> half with assimilation < PIE *sēmi.
    Half past x is always formed by attaching the element «-μισι» to the hour e.g:
    5:30 = «πεντέμισι» [pe̞nˈde̞mis̠i] --> fivehalf
    10:30 = «δεκάμισι» [ðe̞ˈkamis̠i] --> tenhalf
    12:30 = «δωδεκάμισι» [ðo̞ðe̞ˈkamis̠i] --> twelvehalf etc.
     
    Very unique and fascinating Catalan comment. Any idea where it comes from? 🤔 Any other langue with similar phrase?
     
    Penyafort said:
    If I tell teens it's quarts i mig de nou, their heads implode.
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    Mine would implode too because you didn't say if it was dos quarts i mig or tres quarts i mig.:p 2 or 3 quarts i mig is too accurate for nowadays youth standards. Mig quart is 7 minutes and 30 seconds, what teenager cares about seconds nowadays in day to day life?
     
    Cymraeg/Welsh

    8.30
    hanner awr wedi wyth
    (a) half hour after eight
    'half past eight'

    The word awr ('hour') is obligatory.

    Also, as mentioned in another thread, but not relevant to this particular 'thirty', it is also obligatory to tell the time using the (traditional) vigesimal counting system, rather than using the more 'modern' 10 based system.

    So, the longest time to recite would be 10.35:

    pum munud ar hugain i un ar ddeg
    five minute on twenty to one on ten
    'twenty-five (minutes) to eleven'
     
    Swedish:
    8:30 - åtta och trettio/åtta å tretti (eight and thirty), åtta tretti (eight thirty)
    8:30 - halv nio (half nine)

    I'd use the first one usually when it's about "8:30 sharp", the second one is more approximate, "jag äter frukost på jobbet vid halv nio" (I have breakfast at work around half nine (usually between 8:20 and 8:40).

    8:15 - kvart över åtta (quarter past eight), åtta och femton (fifteen)
    8:30 - halv nio (half nine), åtta och trettio
    8:45 - kvart i nio (quarter to nine), åtta och fyrtiofem (fortyfive)
     
    Stoggler said:
    One extra (British) English version: half-eight, which is (I have always assumed) just a shortened version of half-past eight.
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    It is good to know that, because it would never occur to me to understand that to mean anything other than 7:30! 🤯
     
    I think the half past eight/ a quarter past eight/ a quarter till nine forms are slowly being lost in Am. English. I did learn them at school in second grade but have never really used them.
    We just say eight fifteen pm, eight thirty pm, eight forty-five pm.

    The British half eight is so hard to understand. Is it 8:30? There is a similar way in German, I think. Halb acht but it means 7:30??
     
    Stoggler said:
    ? It’s not if you just remember it being a shortened version of half-past eight. Hardly a difficult mental exercise! ;)
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    If you don't use half past eight, and you've been trying to learn German too, it's not quite so simple, but this tip does make it easier.
     
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    Encolpius said:
    Any other langue with similar phrase?
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    You also see one remark about Aucamville (pop. 8,691), Saint-Martin-Lalande (1,086) and their quarts d'ora. Perhaps frozen in specific 'popular' contexts, while it would have been an 'instinctive' measurement before (one quart, two quarts, three quarts).

    (Jornalet) Que cau veder e coneisher era vita vitanta d'aquestis parçans lengadocians. S'auètz jamès ausit a parlar deths "quarts d'ora" ??? que sià tolosenc, o de tot eth Lauragués....

    Quan i èri, qu'èi perdut oras e oras enà demorar gent que comolauien eth "quart d'ora" de TLS damb aqueth d'Aucamvila o de Lalanda... e quan arriben, ua mièja ora d'esplicacions deras milantas causas que les an arretengudis... Caiger que les planhariàs !!!
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    In Canarias and some regions around the Caribbean, you also had 'the and a half' (las y media; 2.1.1). Article without the number.
     
    Encolpius said:
    Very unique and fascinating Catalan comment. Any idea where it comes from? 🤔 Any other langue with similar phrase?
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    Hard to say. There are theories based on either sundials, a Gothic remnant or the quarter sounds in the first mechanic clocks.

    Circunflejo said:
    Mine would implode too because you didn't say if it was dos quarts i mig or tres quarts i mig.:p 2 or 3 quarts i mig is too accurate for nowadays youth standards. Mig quart is 7 minutes and 30 seconds, what teenager cares about seconds nowadays in day to day life?
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    Well, in my case -and in most people I've heard- when you just say quarts it refers to two quarters, half an hour.

    Quarts i mig de nou would be between dos quarts i cinc de nou (8:35) and dos quarts i deu / cinc per tres quarts (8:40). Whether it is 8:37 or 8:38 was quite irrelevant back then.

    Translations in English:
    8:35 - Two quarters and five of nine
    8:37 / 8:38 - Two quarters and half of nine
    8:40 - Two quarters and ten of nine / Five to three quarters of nine
     
    Ok, so in the Catalan method you are always counting forward from the last hour, never backwards from the next hour

    Tres quarts i déu de nou = 9h55
    Tres quarts i mig de nou = 9h53
     
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    Ok, I don't understand anything. Tres quarts de nou = 10h45????

    Un quart de déu - 9h15
    Dos quarts de déu - 9h30
    Tres quarts de déu - 9h45
    Tres quarts de déu i mig - 9h53
     
    French :

    huit heures trente minutes (eight hours thirty minutes): very formal
    huit heures trente (eight hours thirty): formal
    huit heures et demi (eight hours and half): a bit more familiar
    (huit heures trente minutes zéro seconde would be for scientific precision).
     
    merquiades said:
    I don't think so, Penyafort, but I'm still pondering.

    Germans: Halb neun = 8h30 (looking back from 9)
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    Both Germans and Catalans think about the coming hour. The difference is that Germans talk about one half and Catalans talk about two quarters.

    merquiades said:
    Un quart de déu - 9h15
    Dos quarts de déu - 9h30
    Tres quarts de déu - 9h45
    Tres quarts de déu i mig - 9h53
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    Tres quarts i mig de deu, one would say for the latter. But you got it right.

    As Circunflejo pointed out, it's deu, no graphic accent. With accent, it means 'god' and the e is [e]. Without accent, it means 'ten' and the e is [ε]. If the number had an accent, it should have been "dèu".
     
    AutumnOwl said:
    Swedish:
    8:30 - åtta och trettio/åtta å tretti (eight and thirty), åtta tretti (eight thirty)
    8:30 - halv nio (half nine)

    I'd use the first one usually when it's about "8:30 sharp", the second one is more approximate, "jag äter frukost på jobbet vid halv nio" (I have breakfast at work around half nine (usually between 8:20 and 8:40).
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    It works essentially the same in Russian, though the "half nine" expression is arguably more transparent here: it's "a half of the ninth" (i.e. eight full hours and a half of the ninth hour); the expression for 8:45, accordingly, will be "without a quarter/without fifteen nine". The English expression "half past eight" is, of course, quite transparent too.
     
    German:

    8:15 acht Uhr fünfzehn (eight "clock" fifteen) / viertel neun (quarter nine) or viertel nach acht (quarter past eight)
    8:30 acht Uhr dreißig (eight "clock" thirty) / halb neun (half nine, i.e. a half hour of the ninth hour)
    8:45 acht Uhr fünfundvierzig (eight "clock" forty-five) /dreiviertel neun (three quarters nine) or viertel vor zehn (quarter to ten)

    Here you can see the distribution of the different versions to name the time, in pink (time in relation to next hour) and in blue the "English" style (except for "half").
     
    Chinese say either:

    "8 hours 30 minutes" (bā diǎn sānshí fēn 八点三十分)
    "8 hours half" （bā diǎn bàn 八点半)

    So I guess they are in group A.
     
    After 8:30, French (as well as several other languages) changes from group A to group B:
    8:35 = neuf heures moins vingt-cinq (literally nine hours minus twenty-five - it works more or less like Russian) or huit heures trente-cinq, which is more formal and precise. You would hear "huit heures trente-cinq" on the radio.
    8:40 = neuf heures moins vingt
    8:45 = neuf heures moins le quart (moins quart for some Canadians)
    etc...
    There is a rather common expression: il était moins cinq ("it was minus five") meaning that it was a narrow escape and we just avoided a catastrophe.
     
    Nanon said:
    After 8:30, French (as well as several other languages) changes from group A to group B:
    8:35 = neuf heures moins vingt-cinq
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    I believe it's the same in European Spanish, though I can't remember right now ever hearing it expressed that way here in Mexico, where we'd rather say either ocho treinta y cinco (= "eight thirty-five") or veinticinco para las nueve (= " twenty-five to nine").
    And the same holds good in other such cases, e.g.:

    • 8:40 – veinte para las nueve / ocho cuarenta
    • 8:45 – cuarto para las nueve / ocho cuarenta y cinco
    • 8:50 – diez para las nueve / ocho cincuenta
    • 8:55 – cinco para las nueve / ocho cincuenta y cinco
     
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    In Russian, the glass is half-full, however differently before half, at half, and after half:
    8:15 — четверть девятого (a quarter of the ninth, with the Genitive case);
    8:30 — половина девятого, but also пол-девятого (half of the ninth);
    8:45 — без четверти девять (without a quarter nine, "quarter" being in the Genitive).
    Четверть means literally a quarter, however things like пять минут, десять минут or двадцать минут (five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes) can also be used at this place, of course still conforming to the rules of case.
    In the digital era, these expressions might seem somewhat old-fashioned to some people.
     
    Persian:

    8:30 - hašt o nim/eight and half
    8:15 - hašt o rob’/eight & quarter
    8:22 - hašt o bist to do daqiqé/eight & twenty two minutes

    8:55 - 8 & 55 minutes or 5 daqiqé bé noh/5 minutes to nine

    8:45 - yek rob’ bé noh/a quarter to nine
     
    amikama said:
    Hebrew:

    8:15 - שמונה ורבע (eight and quarter)
    8:30 - שמונה וחצי (eight and half)
    8:45 - רבע לתשע (quarter to nine)
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    «Οκτώ/οχτώ και τέταρτο» [o̞kˈt̠o̞ˌce̞ˈt̠e̞t̠aɾt̠o̞] or (colloq.) [o̞xˈt̠o̞ˌce̞ˈt̠e̞t̠aɾt̠o̞] --> eight plus quarter
    See my previous post
    «Εννέα/εννιά παρά τέταρτο» [e̞ˈne̞apaˈɾaˈt̠e̞t̠aɾt̠o̞] or (colloq.) [e̞ˈɲapaˈɾaˈt̠e̞t̠aɾt̠o̞] --> nine bar quarter
     
    So, it means that εννέα somehow walked by its last τέταρτο thereby missing it and thus lacking it? I am referring to the derivation of this sense which left me quite puzzled… Could you please give some more examples with παρά in the same meaning, but not related to the hour of day? Thank you very much!
     
    «Παραλίγο» (adv.) [paɾaˈliɣo̞] --> almost, by a hair's breadth, nearly.
    «Παρά» [paˈɾa] is a preposition with the meanings of near, by < PIE *preh₂- before, near cf. Skt. पुरस् /ˈpuɾɐs/, before, in advance, Latin præter, Eng. fore.
     
    In Polish it's quite simple

    8:30 = godzina ósma trzydzieści or wpół do dziewiątej (half to nine)

    10:25It’s twenty-five past/after ten.Jest dwadzieścia pięć po dziesiątej.
    13:43It’s seventeen to two.Jest za siedemnaście druga.
    20:18It’s eighteen past/after eight.Jest osiemnaście po ósmej.
    9:36It’s thirty-six past/after nine.Jest trzydzieści sześć po dziewiątej.
    8:12It’s twelve past/after eight.Jest dwanaście po ósmej.
    17:54It’s six to six.Jest za sześć szósta.
    12:40It’s forty past/after twelve.Jest czterdzieści po dwunastej.
    It’s twenty to one.Jest za dwadzieścia pierwsza.
    15:41It’s forty-one past/after three.Jest czterdzieści jeden po trzeciej.
    It’s nineteen to four.Jest za dziewiętnaście czwarta.
     
    If ...

    13:43 It’s seventeen to two.

    and

    15:41 It’s forty-one past/after three.

    I guess X:42 must be a combination of both 'past' and 'to' ! :)

    Edit: I didn't see your It’s nineteen to four. at first ...


     
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