How to Tell the Time in American English Unit 7 – Oxford Word Skills Elementary

💕💕 Welcome to MindVision English Vocabulary and Unit 7 of Oxford Word Skills Elementary! 👋🌹
Learn how to tell the time in American English 🇺🇸, including analog and digital clocks, past and to, half past, quarter past, quarter to, exact time, and approximate time.
In this lesson, we’ll teach you the American English ways of telling time, but we’ll also mention some terms from Oxford Word Skills that you might encounter.

This lesson is based on Oxford Word Skills Elementary – Unit 7 (Telling the Time) and is perfect for beginner and elementary learners who want to read, say, and understand the time naturally in American English.
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🔗British
Watch Part 1 of Unit 7 here 👉    • How to tell the time in English | Unit 7 -...  
Watch Part 2 of Unit 7 here 👉    • Exact times and periods of time | Unit 7 O...  

🔗American
Watch Part 2 of Unit 7 here 👉    • Exact Times and Periods of Time in America...  

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📘 Unit 7 | Telling the Time
🌟 Golden Tips

🔴 1️⃣ Minutes past & minutes to
In British English, "past" and "to" are commonly used for times like 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 minutes.
👉 1:05 = five minutes past one
👉 1:10 = ten minutes past one
👉 1:15 = quarter past one
👉 1:20 = twenty minutes past one
👉 1:25 = twenty-five minutes past one
👉 1:40 = twenty minutes to two

In American English, the way of telling time is often simpler, and we tend to say it directly in minutes without using "past" or "to" as often.
For example:
👉 1:05 = one oh five
👉 1:10 = one ten
👉 1:15 = one fifteen
👉 1:40 = one forty

However, using "past" and "to" can still be heard occasionally in American English, but it’s not as common or as natural as in British English.

🔴 2️⃣ American vs British (digital time writing)
In American English, we use a colon (:) for digital time.
In British English, we often use a dot (.) in writing.
👉 1:30 (American)
👉 1.30 (British)
⚡ Both are correct, but the writing style is different.

🔴 3️⃣ Always say “minutes”
In American English, we always say the number of minutes.
👉 ✅ eight minutes to two
👉 ❌ eight to two
⚡ Saying only the number without “minutes” is incorrect in American English.

In British English: People also always say the number of minutes, so this rule is the same in both accents.

🔴 4️⃣ Saying digital time in American English
When saying digital time, American English often uses “oh” for zero.
👉 2:03 = two oh three
👉 1:05 = one oh five
⚡ Oh is used for 0 in spoken time.

In British English: This is also common, and the same usage of “oh” for zero applies.

🔴 5️⃣ Asking the time
To ask about the time, we commonly say:
👉 What time is it?
👉 What’s the time?
👉 Have you got the time? (very common in British English)
⚡ These are all polite and natural, but “Have you got the time?” is more commonly used in the UK.
In American English, we don’t use "Have you got the time?" as much, but the other two are very common.

🔴 6️⃣ a.m. and p.m.
We use a.m. for times from midnight to noon.
We use p.m. for times from noon to midnight.
👉 9:00 a.m. = nine in the morning
👉 7:00 p.m. = seven in the evening
⚡ a.m. = before noon, p.m. = after noon

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📢🎧 Viewing Guide:

📍 All lessons also have a British English 🇬🇧 version.
📍 You can find the British version in the playlist for each lesson.

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