Telling Time, Dates & Numbers
Level A2 · Sentence Basics
Clock times, dates and numbers each have a spoken form that doesn't always match how they look in writing. For time, you can read the digits directly (it's three fifteen) or use the more traditional past/to style built around the half hour (a quarter past three). Dates are written with numerals (3 May) but spoken with an ordinal number, not a cardinal one (the third of May). Numbers themselves split into two families: cardinal numbers (one, two, three) simply count things, while ordinal numbers (first, second, third) show position or order — which is why dates, floor numbers and rankings all use ordinals, not cardinals.
Key formation rules:
- past/to style: minutes 1-30 use past (ten past three, quarter past three, half past three for :30); minutes 31-59 count down to the NEXT hour with to (twenty to four for 3:40, quarter to four for 3:45)
- half is used without "a": half past three, never a half past three; quarter works either way — quarter past four and a quarter past four are both correct, as are quarter to four and a quarter to four
- o'clock is only used for exact hours: three o'clock, never three fifteen o'clock
- dates are spoken as an ordinal + of: 3 May → the third of May (British), or as month + ordinal with no of: May 3 → May third (American)
- years are usually split into two two-digit pairs: 1990 → nineteen ninety, 2005 → two thousand (and) five; decades add -s: the 1990s → the nineteen-nineties
- most ordinals just add -th to the cardinal (four → fourth, six → sixth); first, second and third are irregular, and compound numbers keep the irregular ending only on the last word (twenty-first, thirty-second)
The most common mistake is saying a date in cardinal order without "the ... of": I was born in 3 May is wrong — say I was born on the third of May (British) or on May third (American), never on May the 3 or on the May third: pick one style and don't mix the two. Another frequent error is adding "a" before half, or combining past and to in the same phrase: a half past three and quarter to past four are both wrong. It's half past three (no "a" before half) and either quarter past or quarter to, never both together. quarter behaves differently from half here — a quarter past three is perfectly correct alongside quarter past three.
To choose the right form, look at what the numeral is describing. A clock time needs the past/to style: check whether the minutes are 1-30 (use past) or 31-59 (use to, counting to the next hour). A calendar date needs an ordinal number plus of (or American style with no of). Anything marking position or order — a date, a floor, a ranking — needs an ordinal (first, second, third...), while a simple count of how many needs a cardinal (one, two, three...).