German Grammar * Review & Exercises

TIME EXPRESSIONS

Asking the time There are two common questions:

1. Wieviel Uhr ist es?
2. Wie spät ist es?

• Hours and Minutes
• Full hours
Es ist sieben [Uhr]. It is seven [o'clock]. Usually, Uhr is omitted. An oddity: one o'clock = Es ist eins (adds the s).
• Half hours
Watch this one, it will almost guarantee you trouble. In English, we refer back to the previous hour (It is seven thirty being 7:30). In German, the half hour refers to the coming hour (Es ist halb sieben being 6:30).
• Quarter hours
Like English, German uses Quarter hours to describe the time around the hour (It is quarter past (nach) the hour or quarter till (vor) the hour). 1. Es ist viertel nach fünf. = It is quarter past five.
2. Es ist viertel vor zehn. = It is Quarter til ten.
• Alternative
There is an alternative way similar to the half hour system. As is in the half hour construction, the speaker is referring to the coming hour.
1. Es ist viertel vor drei. = It is quarter til three.
2. Es ist halb zwei. = It is half hour til two.
3. Es ist dreiviertel sieben. = It is three quarters hour til seven.
• Minutes
Telling time using minutes requires the use of the prepositions nach (after) and vor (before). Here again be careful. Nach refers to the previous hour while vor refers to the coming hour. Es ist zweiundzwanzig vor drei. = 2:33
Es ist zweiundzwanzig nach drei. = 3:22

If the approximate time is know, then the time may refer to the half hour. Es ist sieben nach (vor) halb. = It is seven minutes after (before) the half hour.

• 24 Hour Clock
The 24 Hour Clock is used for the official time in Germany (ie in train stations, banks, bus stops, and even stores). In which case the only the number equivalents of the quarters and halves are used. (Note: minutes come after the hour without using vor or nach). Der Zug fährt um 20.15 ab. = The train leaves 8:15 p.m. 17:43 = siebzehn Uhr dreiundvierzig 13:15 = dreizehn Uhr fünfzehn 08:30 = acht Uhr dreißig
• Days and Parts of Days

der Tag - day

Days of the Week der Sonntag- Sunday der Donnerstag- Thursday der Montag- Monday der Freitag- Friday der Dienstag- Tuesday der Samstag- Saturday der Mittwoch- Wednesday

Parts of the day der Morgen- morning die Nacht- night der Vormittag- forenoon die Mitternacht- midnight der Mittag- noon der Nachmittag- afternoon der Abend- evening

Note: All parts of the day, expressions referring to whole days and dates are masculine except die Nacht and die Mitternacht.

• Telling time daily
The Rule All expressions that refer to days or parts of days use 'am' as their preposition. (Note: Am is the contraction of an dem.) Am can be dropped before the days of the week.

Day

Sie kommt am Mittwoch, dem neunundzwanzigsten Februar. She is coming on Wednesday on the twenty-ninth of February. Parts of Days

Sie kommen immer am Sonntag und Dienstag, am Abend. They always come on Sundays and Tuesdays in the evening.

Days of the Week Sie kommt Donnerstag. She is coming Thursday.

The Exception Since dem is Masculine Dative and die Nacht and die Mitternacht are feminine you should use in der Nacht and um Mitternacht. The Night and Midnight Sie wird an der Nacht kommen. = She will be coming tonight.

Days as Adverbs When days of the week and parts of days are used as adverbs an -s is added to the end. These adverbs indicate repeated occurrences and dates cannot be used as adverbs. (Well, they can, but they still use the preposition am.) 1. Er kommt Mittwochs. = He comes Wednesdays.
2. Er geht immer am ersten Januar nach Hause. = He always goes home on the first of January.

Colloquialism Tagsüber = during the day.

Weeks, Months, Seasons, and Years Vocabulary Months der Januar der Mai der September der Februar der Juni der Oktober der März der Juli der November der April der August der Dezember Seasons der Frühling- spring der Herbst- fall der Sommer- summer der Winter- winter Months and seasons are masculine, week (die Woche) is feminine, and year (das Jahr) is neuter. Go back to the top

Definite and Indefinite Time Definite Time Accusative Case Vocabulary ganz-* whole nächst- next letzt- last vorig- last jed- every

* The definite article (der, die, das) with ganz in time expressions. When there is no preposition, the accusative case is used to indicate a definite time period.

The sun shone the whole day. Der Sohne scheint den ganzen Tag. The semester ends next week. Der Semester endet nächste Woche. He was here last year. Er war hier voriges Jahr Go back to the top

Combinations In both English and Germans combine day words and parts of day words to form more exact time expressions (like yesterday evening, tomorrow morning, etc.) To do this in German, take any day word and put it in front of a day part word: Day word Part of Day --- morgen* gestern vormittag heute mittag morgen nachmittag --- abend *the one exception to the rule is tomorrow morning which is morgen früh (not morgen morgen). Note: In using these combinations, the words are acting as adverbs and are not capitalized.

Indefinite Time The genitive case is used to indicate indefinite time. Ein is used in this kind of expressions.

Example: One day the teacher did not come to class. Eines Tages kam der Lehrer nicht zu Klasse.

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