One of the first things you will learn in your German language classes is numbers. It will help you say what floor you need in a lift, on a railway concourse, or in an office block. It will also enable you to tell the time.
Timekeeping, for all German people, is essential. Arriving late for a meeting is considered unprofessional, and arriving late for a dinner appointment is seen as just plain rude.
Learning to tell the time in German
Learning to tell the time isn’t just about looking at your watch, phone, or the town centre clock. That’s easy. Knowing the time, if it is said to you over the phone or face to face, isn’t quite so simple. For example, you take a phone call from your German business colleague, who asks you to meet him in the bar next to their offices at halb acht. Ensure you understand the time; otherwise, you will arrive an hour late.
Halb, in German, is half, like our half past and acht is the number eight. So in English, we might translate this to mean half past eight because, we say, it’s thirty minutes past the last hour.
However, they say it’s thirty minutes to the next hour in German. So, halb acht means that it is thirty minutes to eight. What time is thirty minutes to eight? Yes, half past seven!
Once you get used to it, it will become second nature, but meanwhile, when you are in Germany on business; or speaking over the telephone, remember to stop and think.
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