Telling the Time in Dutch
Dutch counts forward to the coming hour, so half drie is 2:30. It also anchors the minutes around the half hour in a way no other language on this site does.
Asking and answering
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Hoe laat is het?
hoo laht is ut
-
What time is it?
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Het is één uur
ut is ayn uur
-
It is one o'clock
-
Het is twee uur
ut is tvay uur
-
It is two o'clock
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om acht uur
om akht uur
-
at eight o'clock
Parts of an hour
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kwart over drie
kvart OH-vur dree
-
quarter past three
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kwart voor vier
kvart vohr veer
-
quarter to four
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half vier
half veer
-
half past three
Half of the way to four, so 3:30
-
tien over half vier
teen OH-vur half veer
-
twenty to four
Ten past half-three. Yes, really
-
vijf voor half vier
vayf vohr half veer
-
twenty-five past three
Parts of the day
-
de ochtend
duh OKH-tunt
-
the morning
-
de middag
duh MID-dakh
-
the afternoon
-
de avond
duh AH-vont
-
the evening
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de nacht
duh nakht
-
the night
-
's ochtends
sOKH-tunts
-
in the morning
's middags and 's avonds work the same way
-
middernacht
MID-dur-nakht
-
midnight
Half counts forward, and so does everything near it
Half names the hour it is heading towards. Half drie is 2:30, not 3:30. Dutch does this exactly as German does, and English speakers turn up an hour late in both.
Dutch then goes further. The five minutes either side of the half hour are counted from the half rather than from the hour, so 3:35 is vijf over half vier, five past half-four, and 3:25 is vijf voor half vier.
That leaves a narrow band around the hour counted normally: tien over drie for 3:10, tien voor vier for 3:50.
Timetables and opening hours use the 24-hour clock, where 14:30 is simply veertien uur dertig and none of this applies.
Dates run day first: 3-5-2026 is the third of May, spoken as drie mei.
- Het is half negen.It is 8:30.
- De trein vertrekt om 16:20.The train leaves at 4:20pm.
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