I’ve been taking this German class at 4PM everyday. Yesterday we started the class with a module on telling time. I’m not sure why, but I found it pretty amusing when 3 people came in 15 minutes late. Late to time! Hahahahaha!
Moving on.
Telling time is basically the same in German. You can say it’s “four seventeen”, “quarter after two”, “half past six”, “quarter to eleven”, “five after four”, or “twenty to eight”. However, there are two additional ways to tell time. In German, the half-hour mark is treated as an important time, so you can actually also say things like “five after half past four” and “ten to half past one”, representing 4:35 and 1:20, respectively. It’s a little confusing. To make matters worse, the part of Austria we’re in has a few regional specific forms.
Telling time sucks.
That does sound like it inhales profusely and a bit too confusing. Why can’t it just be simple?