A1 · Numbers, time and date · about 7 minutes
Telling the time
What time is it? At what time?
“Half” counts from the hour before, and “past” and “to” need a case.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need9
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- buçukhalf (after a number)
- çeyrekquarter
- geçmekto pass, to go past; to pass (an exam)
- dörtfour
- başlamakto begin, to start
- kalato (telling the time)
- geçepast (telling the time)
- buluşmakto meet (up)
- kalkmakto get up; to leave (vehicle)
Understand
Remember“Half past three” is üç buçuk; past: accusative and geçiyor, to: dative and var.
- Signal words
- saat kaç
- saat kaçta
- buçuk
- çeyrek
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Turkish.
| 3:00 | Saat üç. |
| 3:30 | Saat üç buçuk. |
| 3:15 | Saat üçü çeyrek geçiyor. |
| 3:45 | Saat dörde çeyrek var. |
| 3:10 · 3:50 | üçü on geçiyor · dörde on var |
| 12:30 | Saat yarım. |
| at 3:00 · at 3:30 | saat üçte · üç buçukta |
| at 3:15 · at 3:45 | üçü çeyrek geçe · dörde çeyrek kala |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Full hour: Saat and the number.
Saat üç.It is three o’clock.
Half past: the past hour with buçuk.
Saat üç buçuk.It is half past three.
Past: the hour in the accusative, then geçiyor.
Saat üçü çeyrek geçiyor.It is quarter past three.
To: the hour in the dative, then var.
Saat dörde on var.It is ten to four.
“At”: the locative, geçe or kala.
Film saat sekizde başlıyor.The film starts at eight.
Example sentences
Saat kaç? — Saat beş buçuk.What time is it? — Half past five.
Ders saat dokuzda başlıyor.The lesson starts at nine.
Saat ikiyi yirmi geçiyor.It is twenty past two.
6 more example sentences
Otobüs yediye çeyrek kala geliyor.The bus comes at quarter to seven.
Saat on ikiyi on geçe buluşuyoruz.We are meeting at ten past twelve.
Saat yarım.It is half past twelve.
Mağaza saat onda açılıyor.The shop opens at ten.
Saat sekize beş var.It is five to eight.
Tren üç buçukta kalkıyor.The train leaves at half past three.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
With “quarter past three” the ending on the hour is easily forgotten: üç çeyrek geçiyor. The hour the time is “passing” goes in the accusative — üçü — and the hour still to come goes in the dative — dörde.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself9 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The question is Saat kaç? “What time is it?” The full hour is simple: Saat üç. “It is three o’clock.” For half past you add buçuk to the hour that has gone by: Saat üç buçuk. “It is half past three” — literally “three and a half”, just like British “half three”. Only 12:30 is simply yarım “half”.
“Past” is geçiyor, and the hour goes in the accusative: Saat üçü çeyrek geçiyor. “It is quarter past three.” “To” is var, and the hour goes in the dative: Saat dörde çeyrek var. “It is quarter to four”, literally “there is a quarter to four”. Minutes work the same way: üçü on geçiyor“ten past three”dörde on var“ten to four”
To ask “at what time?” you say Saat kaçta?, and the answer is in the locative: saat üçte“at three”üç buçukta“at half past three” geçiyor then becomes geçe, and var becomes kala: üçü çeyrek geçe“at quarter past three”dörde çeyrek kala“at quarter to four”
A closer look
The time in figures
In writing a full stop separates hours and minutes: 15.30. An ending takes an apostrophe and follows the last spoken word: 15.30'da (otuz → da), 9.15'te (on beş → te). On timetables and on the radio the time is often just read as numbers: on beş otuz “fifteen thirty”.
Roughly and exactly
“At about three” is saat üç gibi or saat üçe doğru, “at exactly three” tam saat üçte. “From ten to six” is ondan altıya kadar — ablative and dative.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
Turkish counts like British “half three”: the hour that has passed, plus a half. Speakers of American English, who never say “half three”, just need to remember that üç buçuk is 3:30, not 2:30.
Saat üç buçukta buluşalım.Let’s meet at half past three.
Worth knowing
“it is” or “at”?
For “it is” you use geçiyor and var; for “at” you use geçe and kala. The cases on the hour stay the same.
Saat dörde çeyrek var. Dörde çeyrek kala geliyorum.It is quarter to four. I’m coming at quarter to four.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gelmek · başlamak · geçmek · buluşmak