Plans and talking about time
Vocabulary
| (Etwas) vorhaben | Plan to do (something) |
| Museum | Museum |
| Wie viel Uhr ist es? | What time is it? (lit: How many hours) |
| Um wie viel Uhr? | At what time? |
| aufmachen | to open |
| zumachen | to shut / to close |
| Termin | Appointment |
| Eintrittskarte | Ticket |
| kurz | short, shortly |
| vor | before |
| nach | after |
Dialog
Rita: Hallo Heinz. Was hast Du heute vor?
Heinz: Ich habe heute noch nichts vor. Willst Du mit mir ins Museum gehen?
Rita: Ja, gerne. Um wie viel Uhr sollen wir hingehen?
Heinz: Jetzt ist es neun (9) Uhr. Sollen wir um zehn (10) Uhr gehen?
Rita: Das Museum macht erst um 12 (zwölf) Uhr auf.
Heinz: Oh, ok, dann gehen wir um zwölf Uhr hin.
Rita: Ich habe heute um zwölf Uhr einen Termin. Können wir uns um 1:30 (ein Uhr dreißig) treffen?
Heinz: Ok, das geht. Ich kaufe jetzt die Eintrittskarten, und wir treffen uns kurz vor 13:30 Uhr (dreizehn (= 1 p.m.) Uhr dreißig) vor dem Museum.
Rita: Super! Bis dann!
Rita: Hello Heinz. What do you have planned for today?
Heinz: I don’t have anything planned. Do you want to go to the museum with me?
Rita: Yes, that would be great. What time should we go there?
Heinz: Right now it is nine o’clock. Should we go at ten?
Rita: The museum doesn’t open until noon.
Heinz: Oh, ok, then let’s go there at twelve.
Rita: I have an appointment at noon today. Can we meet at one thirty?
Heinz: Ok, that’s fine. I will buy the tickets, and we’ll meet shortly before one thirty in front of the museum.
Rita: Great! See you then!
Grammar
When talking about time in German, it is customary to use the word “um” meaning “at” before the number. So, to say that something is at 4:30, you would say “Es ist um vier Uhr dreißig.” If you are just telling the time, you drop the “um” and say “Es ist vier Uhr dreißig.”
As you can tell by now, the word “Uhr,” meaning “clock” comes after the hour, and before the minutes.
In Germany, people do not use a.m. and p.m.. Instead many people use military time, which counts hours to 24. If the context is clear, it is perfectly acceptable to use numbers between 1 and 12.
Below are some basic numbers you’ll need for telling time:
| 1 | eins |
| 2 | zwei |
| 3 | drei |
| 4 | vier |
| 5 | fünf |
| 6 | sechs |
| 7 | sieben |
| 8 | acht |
| 9 | neun |
| 10 | zehn |
| 11 | elf |
| 12 | zwölf |
| 13 | dreizehn |
| 14 | vierzehn |
| 15 | fünfzehn |
| 16 | sechzehn |
| 17 | siebzehn |
| 18 | achtzehn |
| 19 | neunzehn |
| 20 | zwanzig |
| 21 | einundzwanzig |
| 22 | zweiundzwanzig |
| 23 | dreiundzwanzig |
| 24 | vierundzwanzig |
| 30 | dreißig |
| 45 | fünfundvierzig |
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