The pattern
On the everyday clock, half names the hour that is coming: half drie is halfway to three. Minutes near the hour count from the hour, and minutes near the half usually count from the half.
- Ask: Hoe laat is het? ("What time is it?")
- Whole hour: Het is drie uur (3:00). For the other everyday times, you normally leave out uur.
- Quarters: kwart over drie (3:15), kwart voor drie (2:45).
- Near the hour: tien over drie (3:10), tien voor vier (3:50).
- Near the half: tien voor half vier (3:20), vijf voor half vier (3:25), half vier (3:30), vijf over half vier (3:35), tien over half vier (3:40).
- Timetables and official texts: the 24-hour clock, written 14.30 uur and read as veertien uur dertig.
In daily speech, people usually round to five minutes. You will sometimes hear twintig over drie for 3:20, but counting from the half is the usual way in the Netherlands. For the word om before a time, see Om, op, in: talking about time.
Examples
| Hoe laat is het? Het is drie uur. | What time is it? It is three o'clock. |
| Mijn les begint om half drie. | My lesson starts at half past two. |
| De bus komt om kwart over vier. | The bus comes at a quarter past four. |
| Daan eet om kwart voor zeven. | Daan eats at a quarter to seven. |
| Het is tien over acht. | It is ten past eight. |
| Fatima heeft om vijf voor half elf een afspraak bij de huisarts. | Fatima has an appointment with the GP at twenty-five past ten. |
| Joris fietst om tien over half zes naar huis. | Joris cycles home at twenty to six. |
| Het is tien voor twaalf. | It is ten to twelve. |
| De trein naar Utrecht vertrekt om 14.32 uur. | The train to Utrecht leaves at 14:32. |
Why it works this way
Dutch looks ahead. At 2:30 you are on your way to three o'clock, so the time is half drie. German says "halb drei" in the same way. English, Spanish and Arabic do the opposite: they add the half to the hour that has passed, and in British English "half three" even means 3:30.
The half hour is a second landmark. Between twenty past and twenty to, the half is closer than the full hour, so you usually count from it.
Timetables, opening hours and letters from the gemeente use the 24-hour clock because it leaves no doubt. In conversation, most people still say om half drie, adding 's middags ("in the afternoon") when needed. If the number words are still new, see Numbers: eenentwintig, not twenty-one.
Remember: read half as "halfway to". Half drie is halfway to three, half acht is halfway to eight.
Watch out
NotIk kom om drie en een half.
SayIk kom om half vier.
for 3:30, say half plus the coming hour
NotDe les begint om half over zeven.
SayDe les begint om half acht.
half goes straight before the coming hour, without over
NotDe trein vertrekt op half drie.
SayDe trein vertrekt om half drie.
"at" before a clock time is om
NotHet is drie uren.
SayHet is drie uur.
in clock times uur stays singular
Quick check
- It is 4:30. Het is half ...
- Choose the right word for 7:45: Het is kwart over / voor acht.
- It is 9:25. Het is vijf voor half ...
- Fix the sentence (the film starts at 6:30, keep the word half): De film begint om half over zes.
Show the answers
- vijf (half looks ahead to the next hour)
- voor (7:45 is a quarter before eight)
- tien (9:25 is five minutes before half tien)
- De film begint om half zeven. (6:30 is halfway to seven)
Use it today
Every time you check your phone today, say the time out loud in Dutch, rounded to five minutes, for example Het is tien voor half vier. At the station or bus stop, read one 24-hour departure time and say it the everyday way too.