Clock: o’clock and half past
You learn to read times on an analogue clock: the whole hour and half hours.
How to work it out
- Look at the short hand: it points to the hour.
- Look at the long hand: at 12 is o’clock, at 6 is half past.
A worked example
Show 3 o'clock on a clock
- Put the small hand at the 3 and the big hand at the 12.
- The clock shows 3:00.
More examples
Show half past 5 on a clock
- Put the big hand at the 6 and the small hand between the 5 and 6.
- The clock shows 5:30.
What time does the clock show? (Big hand at 12, small hand at 9)
- The small hand is at 9, so the hour is 9.
- The big hand is at 12, so it is 9 o'clock exactly.
Watch out
You read the big hand where the small hand should be and the other way round.
The small hand is short and points to the hour. The big hand is long and points to the minutes.
You read the minutes as the hour: 20 minutes past becomes 20 o'clock.
The small hand points to the hour, the big hand to the minutes. At 20 minutes the big hand is at the 4.
Tips
- At a whole hour the big hand is always at 12.
- At half past the big hand is always at 6.
Why it works
On a clock you see a big hand and a small hand. The small hand points to the hour and the big hand to the minutes. At a whole hour (8 o'clock) the big hand is at 12 and the small hand at the 8. At half past (8:30) the big hand is at 6 and the small hand between the 8 and 9.