AM and PM: Time of Day

A clock that goes round twice

Look at a normal clock face. The numbers only go from 1 to 12. But there are 24 hours in a whole day. So the clock hand has to go all the way round twice each day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon and night.

That means every time happens twice. There is a 3 o'clock in the early morning and another 3 o'clock in the afternoon. To tell them apart, we add two little letters: am or pm.

What am and pm mean

Think of the day as cut into two halves at midday (noon):

• am is the first half — from midnight through the whole morning, up to just before noon.
• pm is the second half — from noon through the afternoon, evening and night, up to just before midnight.

am = morning. pm = afternoon and night.

If you have already learned to read a clock in Telling the Time, am and pm are the missing piece that tells you which part of the day a time belongs to.

Two special times

Two times can be confusing, so learn them by heart:

• 12:00 am = midnight — the middle of the night, when one day ends and the next begins.
• 12:00 pm = noon — the middle of the day, when the sun is highest.

A handy way to remember: after 11 in the morning comes 12 pm (noon). After 11 at night comes 12 am (midnight).

A day from start to finish

Here is a whole day in order, with the right labels:

Time	Part of day	am or pm
12:00	midnight	am
7:00	morning, wake up	am
9:00	morning, school starts	am
12:00	noon, lunch	pm
3:00	afternoon, home time	pm
6:00	evening, dinner	pm
8:30	night, bedtime	pm
11:00	late night	pm

Notice how everything before noon is am and everything after noon (until midnight) is pm.

Worked example 1: matching a time

Grandma calls at 7 o'clock, just after dinner. Is it 7:00 am or 7:00 pm?

1. Dinner happens in the evening.
2. The evening is after noon.
3. So it is 7:00 pm.

Worked example 2: thinking it through

The sun is rising and you can smell toast. The clock says 6 o'clock. am or pm?

1. Sunrise and breakfast happen in the morning.
2. Morning is before noon.
3. So it is 6:00 am.

Why this matters

Imagine telling a friend, "Meet me at the park at 5 o'clock," without saying am or pm. They might turn up at 5 in the morning while it is still dark! The little letters stop mix-ups. Buses, alarms, TV guides and party invitations all use am and pm so everyone knows exactly when to be somewhere. When you grow up, you might also meet the 24-hour clock, which solves the same problem a different way.

Try it yourself

Make a "day timeline" for yourself.

1. List six things you do in a normal day — like waking, lunch, a hobby, dinner and bedtime.
2. Next to each one, write the time it happens.
3. Then add am or pm to every time.
4. Check: is everything before noon labelled am, and everything after noon labelled pm?

Well done!

You now know that a clock repeats twice a day, that am means morning and pm means afternoon and night, and that 12 am is midnight while 12 pm is noon. Keep practising in Telling the Time, then explore longer gaps in Time and Calendar Problems.