The 24-hour clock is not only used by the military, and is a very common standard in countries outside of North America. However, since it is rarely used in North America outside of military contexts, the 24-hour clock is called a "military clock". If you want to know how to tell the time in the military way, follow these steps.
Steps
Step 1. Get to know the military watch
This clock starts at midnight and is 00:00. It is also called the "Zero Zero Zero Zero" hour. Instead of having a clock set to twelve hours that resets twice a day, this clock starts at midnight with 00:00 and ends at 23:59 (11:59 pm). It resets again at midnight with 00:00. Note that the military does not use a colon to separate hours from minutes.
- For example, one in the morning is 0100 and one in the afternoon is 1300.
- Contrary to popular belief, the military does not refer to midnight as 2400.
Step 2. Learn to write the hours from midnight to noon according to the military clock
To know how to write the first 12 hours of the day in military language, you need to add a zero before the hour and two zeroes after it. One in the morning is 0100, two are 0200, three are 0300 and so on. When you hit the double digit hours, ten and eleven in the morning, you just need to add two zeros so it will be 1000 and 1100. Here are some examples:
- Four in the morning is 0400.
- Five in the morning is 0500.
- Six in the morning is 0600.
- Seven in the morning gives 0700.
- Eight in the morning is 0800.
Step 3. Learn how to write the hours from noon to midnight according to the military clock
Things get a little more complicated in the afternoon hours until midnight. According to the military clock, a 12-hour cycle does not start again but you have to keep counting from 1200. So one in the afternoon is 1300, two in the afternoon is 1400, three in the afternoon is 1500 and so on. This count continues until midnight when the clock resets. Here are some examples.
- Four in the afternoon is 1600.
- Five in the afternoon is 1700.
- Six in the afternoon is 1800.
- Ten in the evening is 2200.
- Eleven in the evening is 2300.
Step 4. Learn how to tell the time in military language
If you are talking about hours without minutes, telling the time is easy. If zero is the first digit, just say "Zero", the number that follows and then "Zero Zero". If there is 1 or 2 as the first digit, just say the first number consisting of the first two digits and then "Zero Zero". Here are some examples:
- 0100 is called the "Zero Una Zero Zero."
- 0200 is called the "Zero Two Zero Zero."
- 0300 is called the "Zero Tre Zero Zero."
- 1100 is called the "Eleven Zero Zeros."
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2300 is called the "Twenty-three Zero Zeros."
Note that "Zero" is always said in military language in front of the first digit
Step 5. Learn to tell the time with minutes in military language
In this case it is a bit more complicated because you also have to deal with the minutes, but you can learn it quickly. You have to consider the four digits of the military time as if they were two two-digit numbers. For example 1545 becomes the "Fifteen and Forty-five". Here are some examples to understand the process:
- If there are one or more zeros at the beginning, tell them. 0003 is called the "Zero Zero and Zero Tre" and 0215 is called the "Zero Two and Fifteen".
- If there are no zeros in the first two digits, say the number composed of these and do the same for the second pair of digits. 1234 is said "Twelve and Thirty-four" while 1444 is pronounced the "Fourteen and Forty-four."
- If the last number is a zero, think of it associated with the penultimate digit so that it forms a number. So 0130 is "Zero One and Thirty."
Step 6. Learn to convert military time to normal time
Once you have learned to write and pronounce the time in military jargon, you can improve and try to do the opposite. If you see a number greater than 1200 it means that you are dealing with the afternoon hours so subtract 1200 from the number you have to convert it to a time set to 12 hours. For example 1400 is two in the afternoon because you get 200 when you subtract 1200 from 1400. 2000 is eight in the afternoon because if you subtract 1200 from 2000 you get 800.
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If you are facing a number below 1200, you know that you are talking about the morning hours. Simply use the first two digits to know the hour and the last two to know the minutes.
For example, 0950 means 9.50 am, 1130 means 11.30 am
