Telling the time in Greek is not such a difficult task because Greeks follow the same pattern as the English when it comes to the time.

If you already know the Greek numbers, then your job is much easier.

If you don’t, no worries, I have already written about numbers in Greek and cardinal and ordinal Greek numbers.

But let’s get back to our today’s subject and start learning how to tell the time in Greek.

First of all, we need to say that Greeks use both the twelve-hour form as well as the twenty-four-hour one.

The twelve-hour form is more common in everyday speech though.

And this is the form that we are going to learn today because actually we don’t have to say much about the twenty-four-hour form.

You just read or say the numbers in their – yep! You guessed it – cardinal type.

I insist on that because you’re going to see why numbers 1,3,4 have different forms and you can understand the formation of Greek time better. But let’s see what time is in Greece.

Shall we?

Hours in Greek

The hours in Greek are as simple as counting from one to twelve but with cardinal numbers.

• μία (mia) – one
• δύο (dio) – two
• τρεις (tris) – three
• τέσσερις (teseris) – four
• πέντε (pende) – five
• έξι (exi) -six
• επτά/εφτά (epta/efta) – seven
• οκτώ/οχτώ (okto/ohto) – eight
• εννέα/εννιά (enea/enia) -nine
• δέκα (deka) – ten
• έντεκα (endeka) – eleven
• δώδεκα (dodeka) – twelve

Time in Greek is ώρα and it is feminine:

• (η) ώρα (ora) / (οι) ώρες (ores) – time/s

The most common question regarding Greek time is:

• Τι ώρα είναι; (Ti ora ine;) – What time is it?

And the answer if the hour is sharp will be given using the numbers from the list above. For example:

• Είναι τέσσερις (Ine teseris) – It is four o’clock

Alternative answers to the question can be:

• Είναι τέσσερις η ώρα (Ine teseris i ora) – It is four o’clock
• Είναι τέσσερις ακριβώς (Ine teseris akrivos) – It is four precisely

And my favorite and the easiest to remember one:

• Τέσσερις(Teseris) – Four

Yep! That’s right, you can answer by just using the number. No verb needed, no extra word. You’re welcome 🙂

Half past and Quarter in Greek

The Greek time is divided into two halves or four quarters so when we want to say the time in Greek using past and quarter this is how we are going to tell it:

Half

• Και μισή (Ke misi) – Half

Examples:

• Τι ώρα είναι; (Ti ora ine;) – What time is it?

• Είναι πέντε και μισή (Ine pende ke misi) – It is half past five
• Είναι εφτά και μισή (Ine efta ke misi) – It is half past seven

Again, you can just answer by the number

• Δέκα και μισή (Deka ke misi) – Half past ten

Quarters

• Και τέταρτο (Ke tetarto) – Quarter past
• Παρά τέταρτο (Para tetarto) – Quarter to

Examples:

• Τι ώρα είναι; (Ti ora ine;) – What time is it?

• Είναι μία και τέταρτο (Ine mia ke tetarto) – It is a quarter past one
• Είναι τρεις και τέταρτο (Ine tris ke tetarto) – It is a quarter past three

• Είναι οχτώ παρά τέταρτο (Ine ohto para tetarto) – It is a quarter to eight
• Είναι έντεκα παρά τέταρτο (Ine endeka para tetarto) – It is a quarter to eleven

How to tell minutes in Greek

Until now we learned how to tell precise hours, half and quarters in Greek.

But what about the rest of the minutes? Ok, this is very easy.

You just need to remember two words. Και (ke) which is the equivalent of and/past in English and παρά (para) which is the equivalent of to in English time.

For the first half of the time (0-30 minutes) we use the word και plus the minutes we want to say and for the second half (30-60 minutes) we use the word παρά again plus the minutes.

But let’s see some examples to understand it better:

• Τι ώρα είναι; (Ti ora ine;) – What time is it?

και (ke) + λεπτά (lepta) – past + minutes

• Είναι τρεις και δέκα (Ine tris ke deka) – It is ten past three
• Είναι έξι και είκοσι τρία (Ine exi ke ikosi tria) – It is twenty-three minutes past six
• Είναι εννέα και πέντε (Ine enea ke pende) – It is five past nine

παρά (para) + λεπτά (lepta) – to + minutes

• Είναι τρεις παρά τρία (Ine tris para tria) – It is three minutes to three
• Είναι οχτώ παρά είκοσι (Ine ohto para ikosi) – It is twenty to eight
• Είναι δέκα παρά δώδεκα (Ine deka para dodeka) – It is twelve minutes to ten

Again, I will be graphic, but I need to tell you that you can just answer by telling only the numbers and not using the verb. But it’s good to know also the verb, right?

Sooo, until now we have seen all the basics regarding the time in Greek.

With knowing all the above, you can definitely tell the time in Greek!

But let’s dig a little deeper and at the same time expand our vocabulary a bit.

Vocabulary

Time reference during the day

When telling the time in Greek, especially in everyday speech where we tend to use the twelve-hour form more, a lot of times we need to add some specific words to determine whether we are referring to morning or night.

Let’s see these words.

• (το) πρωί (proi) – morning
• (το) μεσημέρι (mesimeri) – noon
• (το) απόγευμα (apoyevma) – afternoon
• (το) βράδυ (vrathi) – night
• (η) νύχτα (nihta) – night
• (τα) μεσάνυχτα (mesanihta) – midnight
• (το) ξημέρωμα/(τα) ξημερώματα (ximeroma/ximeromata) – dawn

Now let’s see how we can use them in a phrase:

• Τι ώρα φεύγει το πλοίο; (Ti ora fevyi to plio;) – What time does the ship leave?
• Το πλοίο φεύγει στις οχτώ το πρωί (To plio fevyi stis ohto to proi) – The ship leaves at eight in the morning

• Θα περάσω κατά τις τρεις το μεσημέρι (Tha peraso kata tis tris to mesimeri) – I will pass by around three o’ clock noon

• Κανονίσαμε να πάμε για καφέ στις πέντε το απόγευμα (Kanonisame na pame ya kafe stis pende to apoyevma) – We arranged to go for a coffee at five in the afternoon

• Όταν λες στις εννιά, εννοείς το πρωί ή το βράδυ; (Otan les stis enia, enois to proi i to vrathi;) – When you say at nine, do you mean morning or evening?

• Έγινε σεισμός τα μεσάνυχτα (Eyine sismos ta mesanihta) – There was an earthquake at midnight

• Σχολάει στις δύο τη νύχτα (Sholai stis dio ti nihta) – He finishes work at two in the night

• Το αεροπλάνο προσγειώνεται στις πέντε τα ξημερώματα/το ξημέρωμα (To aeroplano prosyionete stis pende ta ximeromata/to ximeroma) – The plane lands at five at dawn

am/pm in Greek

To distinguish morning hours from evening ones, especially in written form, we can also use the Greek a.m. and p.m. And the abbreviations is the most likely form that you can find in a text. The whole phrases are usually used in formal speeches.

• προ μεσημβρίας -π.μ. (pro mesimvrias) – before midday/ante meridiem (a.m.)
• μετά μεσημβρίαν – μ.μ. (meta mesimvrian) – after midday/post meridiem (p.m.)

Other ways to ask for the time

If you want to expand more your vocabulary, this is how you can ask for the time in different ways:

• Μήπως έχεις ώρα; (Mipos ehis ora;) – Do you have the time?
• Μήπως έχετε ώρα (παρακαλώ); (Mipos ehete ora (parakalo);)- Do you have the time please?
• Μήπως ξέρεις τι ώρα είναι; (Mipos xeris ti ora ine;) – Do you happen to know the time?
• Μήπως ξέρετε τι ώρα είναι; (Mipos xerete ti ora ine;) – Do you happen to know the time?
• Μπορείς να μου πεις (παρακαλώ) τι ώρα είναι; (Boris na mu pis (parakalo) ti ora ine;) – Can you please tell me what time it is?
• Μπορείτε να μου πείτε παρακαλώ τι ώρα είναι; (Borite na mu pite parakalo ti ora ine;) – Can you please tell me what time it is?

If you want to ask for a specific event then you just add the event at the end of a sentence

• Τι ώρα είναι η συναυλία; (Ti ora ine i sinavlia;) – What time is the concert?
• Μήπως ξέρεις τι ώρα είναι/αρχίζει ο αγώνας; (Mipos xeris ti ora ine/arhizi o awonas;) – Do you know what time the match starts?
• Μπορείς να μου πεις τι ώρα κλείσαμε το ραντεβού με τον γιατρό; (Boris na mu pis ti ora klisame to rantevu me ton yatro;) – Can you tell me what time we made the appointment with the doctor?

Other related useful words

• (το) λεπτό/(τα) λεπτά (lepto/lepta) – minute/s
• (το) δευτερόλεπτο/(τα) δευτερόλεπτα (thefterolepto/thefterolepta) – second/s

• πριν (prin) – before

Θα έρθω πριν τις τρεις (Tha ertho prin tis tris) – I will come before three

• μετά (meta) – after

Θα γυρίσω μετά τις πέντε (Tha yiriso meta tis pende) – I will return after five

Oh, boy! How time passes (yep, pun intended!). We have covered everything about Greek time and next time I see you I will definitely ask you τι ώρα είναι; For now, ciao,ciao! Oh,wait! That was italian! But you got it, anyways 😉