Telling the Time on a Clock

The two hands

A clock has two main hands.

• The short hand is the hour hand. It tells you the hour.
• The long hand is the minute hand. It tells you the minutes.

The numbers 1 to 12 go around the edge.

O'clock

When the long hand points straight up to 12, we say o'clock.

Look at the short hand to find the hour.

• Short hand on 3, long hand on 12 → 3 o'clock.
• Short hand on 8, long hand on 12 → 8 o'clock.

Half past

The minute hand takes 60 minutes to go all the way around. Halfway around is 30 minutes.

When the long hand points to 6, half the hour has passed. We say half past.

• Long hand on 6, short hand just after 4 → half past 4.

Quarter past and quarter to

A quarter is one fourth of the way around — that is 15 minutes.

Long hand points to	We say	Minutes
12	o'clock	0
3	quarter past	15
6	half past	30
9	quarter to	45

When the long hand is on 3, it is quarter past the hour.

When the long hand is on 9, it is quarter to the next hour.

Worked example

The short hand is between 2 and 3. The long hand points to 9.

1. The long hand on 9 means quarter to.
2. Quarter to means we are heading toward the next hour, which is 3.
3. So the time is quarter to 3 (also written 2:45).

Try it yourself

Make a paper clock with two card hands. Set it to:

• 7 o'clock
• half past 9
• quarter past 6

Great job!

You can read a clock now. Try checking the time at home all day long.

When you are ready, practise counting in fives (handy for minutes) in Number Patterns and Sequences, or learn Money: Counting Coins and Change.