Expressing Time

To say the time in German, combine the hour with "Uhr" (Es ist drei Uhr), and use words like Viertel (quarter), vor (to), or nach (past) for more precise times. Use Vormittag for the morning and Nachmittag for the afternoon.

Examples:

• Es ist drei Uhr. (It is three o’clock.)
• Es ist Viertel nach vier. (It is a quarter past four.)
• Es ist fünf vor sechs. (It is five to six.)
• Wir treffen uns am Nachmittag. (We meet in the afternoon.)
• Der Termin ist am Vormittag. (The appointment is in the morning.)

Giving Dates

To give the date, start with the day, then the month, and then the year or "Jahreszahl." For full dates, use "der" with the day and "im" with the month.

Examples:

• Heute ist der 3. Mai. (Today is the 3rd of May.)
• Mein Geburtstag ist am zwölften Juni. (My birthday is on the twelfth of June.)
• Das Ereignis war am ersten Januar 2022. (The event was on January 1st, 2022.)
• Der Tag ist der 15. Oktober. (The day is the 15th of October.)
• Im Monat Januar ist es kalt. (It is cold in January.)
• Das Geschehen war im Jahr 2021. (The occurrence was in 2021.)

Monate (Months in German)

German months are capitalized and used without "the" unless specifying with articles.

Examples:

• Januar, Februar, März, April, Mai, Juni, Juli, August, September, Oktober, November, Dezember
• Im Monat August beginnt die Schule. (School starts in the month of August.)

Tips

• To express "in the morning" and "in the afternoon," use am Vormittag and am Nachmittag.
• Use ordinal numbers with dates (am dritten Mai, am ersten Januar).

German date format is TT.MM.JJJJ, so 3.5.2022 means May 3rd, 2022. In German-speaking countries, dates are often said or written this way.