So far we’ve seen two lessons on telling the time in Hindi. Can you remember what we’ve covered? That’s right, in What Time is it? Part 1 we learnt the phrase कितने बजे हैं? kitne baje hain - What Time is it? We also learnt how to reply with ‘It’s ___ o'clock’! Then in What Time is it? Part 2 we saw how to say 'It’s half past ___’ and we put together some sentences using what we’ve learnt! Be sure to revise over those lessons if you’ve forgotten anything. 

Today we’re going to carry on learning about how to tell the time in Hindi! So, let’s not hang about are you ready to get straight into it? अच्छा acchaa - Great! To say 'quarter past’ in Hindi we say, for example…

सवा ग्यारह बजे हैं savaa gyaarah baje hain
- It’s quarter past eleven.

Can you see what we’ve done here? We simply put the word सवा savaa just before the number to mean 'quarter past’. Easy hey! Are you ready for another example? 

If I asked you ’कितने बजे हैं? kitne baje hain - What Time is it?’ and you saw this clock how would you reply? That’s right, we use सवा savaa again! You’d say…

सवा एक बजा है savaa ek bajaa hai
 - It’s quarter past one.

Remember that because 'one o'clock’ is singular we say एक बजा है ek bajaa hai - One o'clock. Just adding सवा savaa before this changes it to quarter past! One more example and then we’ll move on… 

Can you figure it out this time? That’s right, we say…

सवा नौ बजे हैं savaa nau baje hain
- It’s quarter past nine.

Saying 'quarter to’ in Hindi is just as easy, we say, for example…

पौने एक बजा है paune ek bajaa hai 
- It’s quarter to one. 

Can you see what we’ve done here? This time we use the word पौने paune to mean 'quarter to’ and again it’s sits just before the number. Can you see how easy it is? Ready for another example? 

पौने छः बजे हैं paune chah baje hain
 - It’s quarter to six. 

Again we use पौने paune to mean 'quarter to’. Ok let’s do one more example together and then it’s over to you to test your understanding! 

पौने चार बजे हैं paune caar baje hain
 - It’s quarter to four. 

Have you got it now? Great! So you now know how to say quarter past, सवा savaa, and quarter to, पौने paune, in Hindi!

Just to check your understanding for today can you answer to following two questions? Leave a comment below if you want, but it should be super easy for you anyway! If you need to revise over the Hindi numbers then feel free to head to the Numbers section.

      1. कितने बजे हैं? kitne baje hain?

    2. कितने बजे हैं? kitne baje hain?

Leave a comment below if you want me to check your answers or if you have any questions at all! A great way to practice what we’ve learnt today and in previous lessons on telling the time in Hindi is to say the time (in Hindi obviously) to yourself every time you see a clock. Try it, you’ll be amazed at how quickly it sinks it!

Back to Conversational Hindi. 

All clock clipart in this lesson from http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/