Telling the time in Vietnamese
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Sign up for freeIn this chapter, you will learn how to tell the time in Vietnamese. For that it is important to know the numbers already. If you haven't done that yet, go back to numbers in Vietnamese. We will provide you with clear examples on how to tell the time in different ways. If you'll have finished this part, you can try out our free exercises to test your knowledge!
Lesson outline
HideHow to ask for the time in Vietnamese
In this table we will provide you with different expressions on how to ask someone for the time.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| What's the time now? | Bây giờ là mấy giờ? |
| What time is it? | Mấy giờ rồi? |
| Would you please tell me... | Làm ơn cho hỏi |
- To ask more politely add 'làm ơn cho hỏi': Làm ơn cho hỏi bây giờ là mấy giờ rồi?
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Quynh C. 
Tra My T.
Minh Thanh P.
毅華 林. 
How to tell the time...
...in full hours
In order to tell the time, you use 'giờ', which stands for o'clock.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| It's four o'clock. | Bây giờ là bốn giờ. |
| It's five o'clock. | Bây giờ là năm giờ. |
| It's six o'clock. | Bây giờ là sáu giờ. |
...in half hours
To tell the half hours, you use 'rưỡi' (half) after the full hours.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| It's half past two. | Hai giờ rưỡi. |
| It's half past eight. | Tám giờ rưỡi. |
| It's half past nine. | Chín giờ rưỡi. |
...in minutes
To tell the time after the hour from 31 minutes, you use 'kém', which means 'to'. When you refer to the minutes before 30 (1-29), the minutes are added with 'phút' without a linking word. However, 'phút' can also be left out but is added when sentences are rather short.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| It's quarter (15 minutes) past one. | Một giờ mười lăm. |
| It's ten to two. | Hai giờ kém mười phút. |
| It's twenty to three. | Ba giờ kém hai mươi. |
The times of the day
As the Vietnamese also use a 12 hour system, it is important to note how they refer to the specific time of the day (am/pm). They use 'sáng' for morning, 'trưa' for afternoon, 'chiều' for evening and 'tối'/đêm' for night.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| 6 am | sáu giờ sáng |
| 12 pm | mười hai giờ trưa |
| 3 pm | ba giờ chiều |
| 12 am | mười hai giờ tối/đêm |
Summary
After this chapter you will know how to tell the full hours, the half hours and the specific minutes. Moreover, you'll be able to refer to the right time of the day and ask for the time. As usual, we've attached a Video for you to show it all more clearly. To further test your skills, try out our free exercises! :)