Day 9: Time and dates

telling the time · halb · days · months · am / im / um · the date format · 25 min

One thing today can make you an hour late, and it catches almost everybody:

halb drei means 2:30, not 3:30.

German counts toward the coming hour, English counts away from the past one. Section 3 is that, and it is worth reading twice.

1. Asking the time

2. The official way — and where you actually hear it

Timetables, announcements, appointments and anything official use the 24-hour clock, read straight through with Uhr in the middle:

⚠️ Uhr never takes a plural or a number ending. zwei Uhr, not zwei Uhren. And 1:00 is ein Uhr, not eins Uhr — the same ein/eins rule as Day 8.

★ This is not formal-only. German train stations, doctors, cinemas and radio all use 24-hour time as a matter of course. If someone says "Um neunzehn Uhr", they mean 7pm and they are not being stiff about it.

3. ★★ The everyday way — and the halb trap

In conversation Germans use the 12-hour clock with three little words:

And then there is halb

German halb names the hour it is heading TOWARD, not the one it just left.

⚠️ English "half three" means 3:30. German halb drei means 2:30. They are exactly one hour apart, and this is the single most expensive mistake in this entire course — it makes you miss trains and arrive an hour late to dinner.

★ The fix that works: do not translate. Subtract one, every time.

Hear halb + a number → that number minus one, thirty.halb neun → 9 − 1 = 8:30.

Regional heads-up: in eastern and southern Germany you will also hear Viertel drei (= 2:15) and dreiviertel drei (= 2:45) — same logic, counting toward three. Northern and western speakers use Viertel nach zwei and Viertel vor drei.You never have to say these. You do have to survive hearing them.

4. Days of the week — all der

★ Five of the seven are transparent once you see them: Mon-, -tag = day, Frei- ≈ Fri-, Sonn- = sun, Donner- = Thor's thunder. English and German named the days from the same gods.

Months — also all der

Januar · Februar · März · April · Mai · Juni · Juli · August · September · Oktober · November · Dezember

⚠️ Only three differ from English at all: März (mairts), Juni (YOO-nee), Juli (YOO-lee). On the phone Germans say Juno and Julei to keep June and July apart — the same instinct as zwo for zwei.

Seasons — again all der

der Frühling (spring) · der Sommer · der Herbst (autumn) · der Winter

5. ★ am, im, um — the three time prepositions

um = clock time · am = day or part of day · im = month or season

★ The pattern is easier than it looks: small unit → um, medium → am, big → im. Only in der Nacht breaks it, and it breaks because of gender, which you already know about from Day 6.

6. Today, tomorrow — and a genuine trap

⚠️ morgen is three different things:

And so morgen früh = tomorrow morning, while morgen Abend = tomorrow evening.The capital letter is doing real work here — this is the Day 1 point about capitalised nouns paying you back.

Habitual times all take -s: morgens · mittags · nachmittags · abends · nachts

Ich trinke abends kein Kaffee. — I don't drink coffee in the evenings.

7. Dates — and the format is not American

German writes day.month.year. 24.12.2026 is 24 December, not 12 April.

The dot after the numeral means "ordinal" — 24. is read vierundzwanzigste. Those are the Day 8 ordinals doing their job, including the three irregulars: der erste, der dritte, der siebte.

⚠️ Note the extra -n in am vierundzwanzigsten. That is the dative case arriving on Day 15. Today: "der …te" on its own, "am …ten" after am. Memorise the pair.

8. Dialogue

Anna: Wie spät ist es? — vee SHPAYT ist esAlex: Es ist halb drei. — es ist halp DRYAnna: Schon halb drei? Ich habe um drei Uhr einen Termin!Alex: Wo denn? — Anna: Beim Arzt. Am Freitag habe ich auch einen.Alex: Hast du am Wochenende Zeit?Anna: Am Samstag ja, am Sonntag nicht. Warum?Alex: Mein Geburtstag ist am achten Mai. Es gibt eine Party.Anna: Im Mai schon? Sehr gut! Um wie viel Uhr?Alex: Um acht Uhr abends. — oom AKHT oor AH-bentsAnna: Perfekt. Bis dann! — biss DAN — See you then!

★ halb drei in line 2 is 2:30. Anna's appointment is at 3:00, so she has thirty minutes — that is why she panics. If you read it as 3:30, the joke of the scene is inverted and so is your day.

9. Exercises

A. ⚠️ What time is it? (the halb trap)

1. halb vier 2. halb neun 3. halb eins 4. halb elf

B. Say it the everyday way.

1. 3:15 2. 2:45 3. 7:10 4. 5:30 5. 9:50

C. am, im, or um?

1. ___ Montag 2. ___ acht Uhr 3. ___ Sommer 4. ___ Wochenende
2. ___ Dezember 6. ___ halb sieben 7. ___ Abend

D. Write the date in German.

1. 1.5. 2. 3.10. 3. 7.1. 4. 24.12.

E. morgen, der Morgen, or morgens?

1. Guten ___! 2. Ich komme ___. 3. Ich trinke ___ Kaffee. 4. Ich komme ___ früh.

F. ⚠️ Fix the error.

1. Es ist eins Uhr. 2. Ich komme in Montag. 3. 12.4.2026 = 12 April? (is that right?)
2. Wir treffen uns um halb drei — also um 3:30, oder?

10. Today's 10 sentences (flashcards)

1. Wie spät ist es? — What time is it? (vee SHPAYT ist es)
2. Es ist halb drei. — It's 2:30 (es ist halp DRY)
3. Es ist Viertel nach vier. — It's 4:15 (es ist FEER-tel nakh FEER)
4. Um wie viel Uhr? — At what time? (oom vee feel OOR)
5. Um acht Uhr abends. — At eight in the evening (oom AKHT oor AH-bents)
6. Am Montag habe ich Zeit. — I have time on Monday (am MOHN-tahk HAH-buh ikh TSITE)
7. Im Sommer fahre ich nach Wien. — In summer I'm going to Vienna (im ZOM-muh FAH-ruh ikh nakh VEEN)
8. Heute ist der erste Mai. — Today is 1 May (HOY-tuh ist dair AIRS-tuh MY)
9. Ich habe am achten Mai Geburtstag. — My birthday is 8 May (am AKH-ten MY guh-BOORTS-tahk)
10. Bis morgen! — See you tomorrow (biss MOR-gen)

11. 📲 Upload to LangNote

Upload sections 3–6 and section 10 → study language German.

★ Set one German alarm today. Label it halb acht and set it for 7:30. Getting it right once with real consequences beats twenty exercises.

langNote is a paid subscription and this course recommends it. The 30 lessons are free and complete either way.