What does p m mean in English. English system in Russia

Although we are taught to tell the time in school, most have not learned how to do it properly. However, talk about time in the modern world cannot be avoided. The secret is to restructure your thinking and start thinking in English. Many try not to mention the time, or simplify, or avoid using the words quarter, half, past, to.

To avoid possible inaccuracies, sometimes they simply say:

7.05 - seven five or seven oh five
7.10 - seven ten
7.15 - seven fifteen

The reason is that many have not fully figured out how to correctly indicate the time in English. Today we will talk about how native speakers indicate time, how to use the words to and past, and talk about many other subtleties that will help you speak about time without errors and understand your interlocutors.

The first word you need to remember is o"clock . O "clock- this is an even hour, without minutes:

7.00 - seven o'clock
9.00 - nine o'clock
11.00 - eleven o'clock

Sometimes, especially at the initial stage of learning, they confuse words o "clock and hours. Please note the difference: o "clock- a mark on the clock face, and hours- 60 minutes, indicates duration, duration:

The lesson starts at 6 o "clock. - The lesson starts at six o'clock.

The lesson lasts for two hours. - The lesson lasts two hours.

To indicate the correct time, you need to mentally divide the dial in half and assign names to the halves:

first half hour: past(after)
second half hour: to(before)

Next important word: half half, half an hour. It is important to understand the difference in the perception of time in English, as in English they always say "half after" ( half past ) and called after what time:

2:30 - half past two

10:30 - half past ten - half past ten (half after ten)

12:30 - half past twelve - half past one (half after twelve)

By the way, in colloquial speech the word past often omitted from expression half past:

The number of minutes in the first half of the hour must be indicated using the word past in this format: how much time has passed + after how much:

9:05 - five past nine (five after nine)

9:10 - ten past nine (ten after nine)

9:20 - twenty past nine (twenty after nine)

9:25 - twenty-five past nine (twenty five after nine)

Please note that if the number of minutes is a multiple of five then don't say a word minutes.

Another keyword: (a) quarter - a quarter of an hour. When they indicate the time, they rarely say fifteen, as a rule, replace it with the word (a) quarter :

7:15 - quarter past seven (a quarter after seven)

3:15 - quarter past three

The last mark on the clock with the word past will half past. After half, another countdown begins, not after the last hour, but until the next hour, using the word to(before). The format of the expression is: how much is left + until how much:

5:35 - twenty five to six (twenty five to six)

5:40 - twenty to six (twenty to six)

5:45 - quarter to six (quarter to six)

5:50 - ten to six (ten to six)

5:55 - five to six (five to six)

If you need to specify number of minutes not a multiple of five, the word is used minutes :

Three minutes past four - 4:03

Sixteen minutes past eight

Twenty-two minutes to two- 1:38

Seven minutes to ten - 9:53

When indicating time, the preposition is used

At half past four - at half past four (half after four)

At three o "clock - at three o'clock

At quarter to seven - at fifteen to seven (a quarter to seven)

Twelve o'clock is usually called - twelve o'clock, but you can say:

at none- at noon
at midday- at noon
at midnight- at midnight

In everyday communication, they prefer to call the time according to the usual clock, in which there are twelve hours. Abbreviations are used to distinguish night from day. a.m. and p.m. As soon as they are not interpreted by the students! In fact, both abbreviations come from Latin:

a.m. - ante meridiem- before noon, denotes the time from midnight to noon (night and morning)

p.m. - post meridiem- after noon, time from noon to midnight (afternoon and evening).

These abbreviations can be heard in conversation when it is necessary to clarify what time of day is meant. Also, in American English, () is sometimes replaced past on the after, a to on the of:

Five past six - five after six - five past seven (five after six)

Twenty to eight - twenty of eight - twenty to eight (twenty to eight)

Time by electronic clock ( digital clock or twenty-four hour clock), in which the time is indicated by numbers from 0 hours to 24 hours, is indicated differently. This system is commonly used in schedules, schedules, programs, official announcements, military orders.

The 24-hour clock system, which we will now discuss, is also called " military time"(" Wartime "), because it is used in the army. It is so common to see these numbers on the airport scoreboard, in the train schedule, it is immediately clear what time is meant, however, "pronunciation" of time on an electronic clock is not an easy task. Watches and minutes are not separated from each other, so we are dealing with a four-digit number.
For comparison, we offer you a table for indicating the time according to the 12-hour system and the 24-hour system:

12 Hour Clock	24 Hour Clock
	0100 Zero one hundred hours
	0200 Zero two hundred hours
	0300 Zero three hundred hours
	0400 Zero four hundred hours
	0500 Zero five hundred hours
	0600 Zero six hundred hours
	0700 Zero seven hundred hours
	0800 Zero hundred eight hours
	0900 Zero nine hundred hours
	1000 ten hundred hours
	1100 Eleven hundred hours
	1200 Twelve hundred hours
	1300 Thirteen hundred hours
	1400 Fourteen hundred hours
	1500 Fifteen hundred hours
	1600 Sixteen hundred hours
	1700 Seventeen hundred hours
	1800 Eighteen hundred hours
	1900 Nineteen hundred hours
	2000 Twenty hundred hours
	2100 Twenty-one hundred hours
	2200 Twenty-two hundred hours
	2300 Twenty-three hundred hours
	2400 Twenty-four hundred hours

As you can see, if the hour is "even", without minutes, then the first digit is called and the words are added hundred hours. If minutes are present, then the four-digit number is divided by two and each is called separately + hours:

0945 - oh nine forty-five hours
1126 - eleven twenty-six hours
1757 - seventeen fifty-seven hours
0130 - zero one thirty hours

In everyday conversation, this notation of time is rarely used, usually the time is indicated in a 12-hour format.

To find out the time, they usually ask:

What time is it?
Have you got the time?
What's the time?
Could you tell me the time, please?

All of the above questions translate the same way: What time is it now? What time is it? The last question sounds the most polite: Can you tell me what time it is?

Be aware of the English time rules so you can always answer these questions. I wish you success!

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There are more than 200 countries in the modern world, and each country has its own customs and traditions that shape the way of life of people and their habits. Trifles in culture, it would seem, should not affect the understanding of a person at all, but this is not so. We do not notice insignificant things, although they are fraught with many interesting and unusual things. Such trifles include differences in time formats.

In this article, we will figure out what time formats exist, what is their difference? Why is it not possible to introduce common time in the world? How to understand the designations of different formats? What is the definition of time in English?

Time formats

We live in a country where 24 hours of the day are used to indicate time. This format is called 24-hour. But there are also countries that use only 12 hours a day. On the dial, only 12 hours are used.

What's also interesting is that most people who live by the 24-hour clock tend to use only 12 hours more often. For example, we do not say “I will be at 19”, but “I will be at 7” or “I will be at 7 pm”.

Where did the two formats come from? It is clear that 24 hours is the length of a day. But why 12 hours and not 4 or 6? The format, when the day is divided into two parts of 12 hours, came from the Ancient World. In Mesopotamia, Rome and Ancient Egypt, a sundial was used during the day and a water clock at night. Some countries did not change the knowledge gained by their ancestors, but left the 12-hour format.

As for the USA, 2 formats are appropriate there. The most commonly used is 12 hours, but if you say, for example, "20 hours", then you will probably not be understood, since 24 hours is a military format.

Time notation in English

Which countries use 12 and 24 hour format? In English-speaking countries, the 12-hour format is most often used, so abbreviations were originally invented. The designation of time in English is pm (from the Latin Post meridiem - "after noon") and am (from the Latin Ante meridiem - "before noon"). And if the Americans somehow understand you, then another English-speaking world will prove that there is no more than 12 hours. A.m. consumed from 12 noon to 12 noon, and for p.m. it's the other way around. For example, if you want to say 15:00, it would be 3pm and 1am would be 1am. The designation of time in English is just that.

It is rather difficult to memorize these designations without constant repetition. Do you want to know how easy and simple it is to save them in memory? All you have to do is set your phone, tablet or computer (whichever you use most) to twelve hour clock. It usually takes a couple of days to get used to it. Most people who have switched to the 12-hour-a-day format use it that way.

And what about the indication of time in English on the clock? Like ours, the dial also has 12 hours. But there is a difference in electronic media. All electrical devices use twelve hours, but we have 24.

Which countries use 12 and 24 hour format?

As mentioned above, the world is conditionally divided into countries that use twenty-four hours to indicate time, and countries where the 12-hour format is used.

Countries with a 24-hour format include most of the world, for example, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Japan. In Australia, New Zealand and the United States (that is, in countries where the time designation is in English) 12 hours are used in a day. This is proven by the fact that English speakers are not comfortable saying, say, "16 o'clock".

There are also countries where both options are acceptable. These are Greece, Brazil, France, Great Britain, Albania and Turkey.

But what about Canada? As you know, Canada has two official languages ​​- English and French. The country is divided according to the linguistic criterion into areas - provinces where they speak French, and territories with a predominant English language. All of Canada uses the 12-hour format because it was a British colony for a long time, but in the province of Quebec, people are more likely to use the 24-hour format.

Conclusion

So, we figured out that there are two time formats - 12 and 24-hour. Often in English they use 12 hours, for which special abbreviations were invented. The designation of time in English occurs with the help of four letters - am (before noon) and pm (after noon). To better remember where, what and when to use, you need to set the twelve-hour time format on your phone, tablet or computer. If you want to go to a country where this format is used, for example, to the USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, you should prepare in advance to avoid misunderstandings.

We are accustomed to measuring time in days in hours. But the day was not always divided into 24 hours, and in the modern world, not everyone uses such a system. In China, time was measured in "ke" or "shi". The number of ke per day was 100 units, and shi was 12, these are double hours.

10 hours a day

During the era of the French Revolution, the day was divided into 10 hours, each with 100 minutes. And, for example, astronomical time is calculated in fractions of a day. In ancient Rome, time was determined in guards, four guards of three hours each.

The official division of the day into 24 hours

The official division of the day into 24 hours was introduced in ancient Greece by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. The ancient Egyptians, even 2 thousand years before our era, divided the day into: 12 night hours, 10 daytime hours and 1 hour each for morning and evening twilight. But then they reformed such a system, dividing the day into 12 daytime hours and 12 nighttime hours.

Despite the widespread belief that the current system of calculus came to us from Ancient Babylon, it is erroneous and is based on the "History" of Herodotus.

double hour

In fact, in Babylon they used a double hour, consisting of 120 minutes, but the concept of an hour did not exist then. The division of the day into 24 hours is the merit of the ancient Greeks.

What formats are currently in use

In the modern world, two systems of calculating the day, French and English, have been preserved. French has a 24 hour format, while English has 12 hours. The division into intervals before and after noon for 12 hours, is widely used in many countries for informal communication, along with French.

Daytime hours before noon are designated am, and after 12 as pm. It comes from the Latin ante meaning before, and post meaning after.

This format is used in Canada, USA, New Zealand, Philippines and Australia. And in the UK, Brazil, France and some other countries, both are used.

Understanding it is not difficult, but it is necessary for communication.

It has only two periods before noon and after, the Latin letter p in the designation pm, for ease of remembering, can be perceived as “pe” Russian. Then it will be easier to remember p - after.

Many people use other associations with the letter p to remember, for example, later or later.

Associations

But to define pm as after noon, the best and correct word to remember is after. Time 12 in such a system is designated without any abbreviations, this is the starting point.

The fact is that in Latin meridiem means noon, this is not an exact definition, but rather a literal one. Therefore, to indicate the end of the day, sometimes they write not 12, but 11:59 p. m., and the beginning of a new day looks like - 12:01 a. m.

English system in Russia

Many problems for the Russians are created by electronic clocks with the English time format. Everything is clear in the clock with arrows, but on the electronic clock 14:30 there will be no inscription, the clock shows intervals up to 12.

The time 14:30 in our opinion, on a clock in a different format will look like 02:30 pm, and the beginning of a new day starts from 00:00:01 am and ends at 11:59:59 am. The term noon is used to define noon, and 12 o'clock at night is midnight.

Everyone who is interested in learning English has had to deal with strange notation p. m. and a. m, and in general, wherever time is mentioned, for some reason only 12 hour format. Probably, for us living on a 24-hour pattern, this is really strange, but if you understand this phenomenon, everything will fall into place.

So, let's start with the fact that in Western countries it is accepted 12 hour time system. The idea is that the 24 hours that make up a day are divided into two intervals of 12 hours, which are denoted as a. m.(lat. Ante meridiem - “before noon”) and p. m.(lat. Post meridiem - “afternoon”). This format is predominant in the USA, Canada, Australia, France, Turkey and some other countries.

This tradition has ancient roots, as the 12-hour time format was used in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians used a sundial for use during the day, and at night they used a water clock or clepsydra (translated from Greek - “water thief”). The Romans also used the 12-hour time format.

You need to remember that the time from 12 noon to 12 night denoted by two letters p. m. (read - pi em).

For example:

3:30 p.m. m. – Fourth half (of the day)

6:15 p.m. m. – Fifteen past seven (pm)

8:40 p.m. m. – Twenty to nine (pm)

Time from 12 noon to 12 noon denoted by two letters a. m.

For example:

1.00 a. m.– Hour of the morning

7:45 a.m. m. – Fifteen minutes to eight (morning)

But, native speakers for convenience in spoken English instead of a. m. and p. m, after the numbers indicating the time, add:

in the morning(morning) - (from 01.00 to 11.59)

in the afternoon(in the afternoon after noon) - (from 12.00 to 16.59)

in the evening(approximately from 17:00 to 21:59)

at night(in the evening after 22:00 and before 00:59).

But as I said, if official English is used, then it is usually used a. m. and p. m.

For example:

19:45 – fifteen till eight in the morning

2:00 – two o'clock in the morning

(Remember, if you want to say the time in hours without specifying minutes, then we say the number of hours and add - o'clock, as in the example above).

14:05 – two zero five in the afternoon

21:30 – nine thirty at night

And now the basic rules:

To say that now is so much time, you need to start with the words: It is
	It is three o'clock a.m. - it's three o'clock in the morning.
If we want to say that at some time we are doing something, we use the preposition at :
	I will phone you at five minutes past 10 – I'll call you at five past nine
Use the preposition - pastwhen talking about minutes from the first to half an hour. (minute hand from 01 to 30) and say how many minutes have passed since the full hour:
	It is fifteen minutes past two fifteen minutes past two(literally: fifteen minutes after two). Often the word minutes in the sentence is omitted - It is fifteen past two
Use the preposition - to when talking about time after half an hour (from 31 to 59 minutes): It is six minutes to five - Without six minutes of a quarter (literally - six minutes to five)
	It is fifteen minutes to eight Quater to eight(literally - fifteen minutes to eight)
To denote "a quarter of an hour", i.e. 15 minutes the word quarter is used. This concept can be used both before and after half an hour, and it is always used with the indefinite article “a”:
	It is a quarter past three Fifteen minutes past three
Half an hour is denoted by the word - half. This word is used without an article:
	It is half past two Half past two

Today, once and for all, we will find out what am and pm mean in English, how these abbreviations are deciphered and how to correctly call time from them.

What is the difference between am and pm?

AM and PM are abbreviations used to indicate the time of day. Both of them came to English from Latin.

AM (ante meridiem) - before noon [hey um]
PM (post meridiem) - after noon [pi em]

They can be found in countries where the twelve-hour time format is adopted. These include Canada, the United States, New Zealand and the Philippines. Together with the generally accepted 24-hour format, 12-hour is also used in the UK, Brazil and a number of other countries. They can indicate the time in any way. In other countries, the twenty-four-hour time format is adopted, which is familiar to us.

The 12-hour format divides the day (24 hours) into two segments of twelve hours.

We use a.m. when talking about the interval from 12 noon (midnight) to 12 noon (noon). That is, from 00:00 to 12:00.

For example:
It's two a.m. - Two in the morning (2:00).
It's five a.m. - Five in the morning (5:00).
It's ten a.m. - Ten in the morning (10:00).
He comes at 9 a.m. - He comes at 9 am.
The train leaves at 11 a.m. - The train leaves at 11 am.

p.m. We use it when we talk about the interval from 12 noon (noon) to 12 midnight (midnight). That is, from 12:00 to 00:00.

For example:
It "s two p.m. - Two in the afternoon (14:00).
It's five p.m. - Five pm (17:00).
It's ten p.m. - Ten in the evening (22:00).
We met at 11 p.m. - We met at 11 pm.
The train leaves at 11 p.m. - The train leaves at 11 pm.

Noon and midnight

Despite the international standards for designating the 12-hour format, there is still no unambiguity between the designation of such insidious time as “noon” and “midnight”.

Some indicate noon as "12 a.m." ("12 ante meridiem", or "12 o'clock until midday"). By this logic, midnight can also be referred to as "12 p.m." (12 post meridiem or 12 hours after the previous midday).

The Greenwich National Maritime Museum suggests that midnight be referred to as "12 noon" and noon as "12 noon". And many American certified style guides suggest designating midnight as 11.59 p.m. to emphasize the end of one day, but already designate the beginning of the next day as 12.01 a.m..

By the way, it is precisely because of the difficulties in understanding and determining time using the 12-hour format that the US Army has been using the 24-hour format since World War II, which avoids errors in navigation and marking the time of hostilities.

If in doubt about how to correctly indicate this time of day, discard the numbers and say in full:

Midday - noon
Midnight - midnight

For more information on how to talk about the time of day in English, see this article:

Comparison table of 24-hour and 12-hour time formats

How to write and use am and pm correctly?

There are several ways to write the 12-hour time format:

> Dotted: a.m. and p.m.
> No dots: am and pm
> In words: AM and PM

The most correct of the three is spelling with dots, but you can often find the other two. In any case, these designations are placed after the numbers, like the well-known o'clock.

Very often, the abbreviations am and pm are found on electronic clocks, in the working hours of the enterprise, and also in the schedule of traffic or classes.

For example, if you see "The office is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.", it will mean that the office hours are from 9 am to 6 pm.

Also, be careful when scheduling a meeting and make sure that your interlocutor understands the agreed time correctly.

Example sentences with am and pm with translation

It is five fifteen AM- It's five fifteen in the morning.

It's eight thirty PM- It's eight thirty in the evening.

We must send this letter at 2 a.m.- We have to send this letter at two o'clock in the morning.

Tomorrow I'll wake up at 6 am, not later- Tomorrow I will wake up at six in the morning, not later.

Today I'm going to work up to 8 p.m.- Today I'm going to work until 8 pm.

It is not polite to call somebody concerning a job offer before or after working hours, or during weekends. Also it is better to make personal calls from 9 a.m. till 10 p.m.- It is impolite to call someone about work before or after work hours or during weekends. Also, it is better to make personal calls from 9 am to 10 pm.

Pharmacies in Prague are usually open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. till noon- Pharmacies in Prague are usually open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5:30 pm and on Saturdays from 9 am to noon.

The hotel offers 10 guest rooms, a secured car parking and a restaurant with working hours from 9 a.m. till 11 p.m.- The hotel offers 10 guest rooms, secure parking and a restaurant open from 9 am to 11 pm.

From 7 a.m. till 11 a.m. buffet breakfast is served for the guests of the hotel's restaurant on the first floor- From 7 am to 11 am, breakfast is served at the hotel's restaurant on the ground floor.

Children under 16 may not be hired for work from 8 p.m. till 6 a.m. Teenagers under 18 may not be hired for work from 10 p.m. till 6 a.m., or from 11 p.m. till 7 a.m.- Children under the age of 16 cannot be employed from 8pm to 6am. Teenagers under the age of 18 cannot be hired from 10pm to 6am or from 11pm to 7am.