Telling time · free
Telling the Time in Hindi
You don’t need numbers for every minute. Four little words — बजे, सवा, साढ़े, पौने — cover o’clock, quarter-past, half-past and quarter-to. Learn those, plus two odd ones, and you can read a clock.
बजे for the hour, सवा / साढ़े / पौने for the quarters. Two exceptions, and you’re done.
Start with बजे — “o’clock”
The anchor word is बजे (baje), meaning “o’clock” (literally “struck,” as a bell strikes the hour). Put a number in front and you have the hour: एक बजे (ek baje) one o’clock, तीन बजे (tīn baje) three o’clock, दस बजे (das baje) ten o’clock.
To ask the time: कितने बजे हैं? (kitne baje haiṁ?) — “how many o’clock is it?” — or क्या समय हुआ है? (kyā samay huā hai?), “what time is it?” समय (samay) and वक़्त (vaqt) both mean “time.”
The quarter words
Three words handle quarter-past, half-past and quarter-to. They go in front of the hour.
quarter past (+15 min)
सवा चार = 4:15.
half past (+30 min)
साढ़े चार = 4:30. Used from 3 o’clock upward.
quarter to (−15 min)
पौने पाँच = 4:45 (a quarter to five).
The two you just have to know: डेढ़ and ढाई
Here’s the catch Hindi throws at you. “Half past” is साढ़े — but only from 3:30 onward. The two earliest halves get their own one-word forms:
डेढ़ (ḍeḍh) means 1:30 (“one and a half”). ढाई (ḍhāī) means 2:30 (“two and a half”). You never say “साढ़े एक” or “साढ़े दो” — it’s डेढ़ बजे and ढाई बजे. From साढ़े तीन (3:30) onward, साढ़े behaves normally. These two are worth drilling because they come up constantly and there’s no way to derive them.
Worked examples
The four building blocks in action.
4:00 — four o’clock
4:15 — quarter past four
4:30 — half past four
4:45 — quarter to five
1:30 — half past one (irregular)
2:30 — half past two (irregular)
Exact minutes, and the time of day
For precise minutes, Hindi uses बजकर (bajkar, “having struck”) for minutes past and बजने में (bajne meṁ, “in striking”) for minutes to: चार बजकर दस मिनट (chār bajkar das minaṭ) is 4:10; पाँच बजने में दस मिनट is ten to five.
Since Hindi usually works on a 12-hour clock, you pin down which part of the day with a word in front: सुबह (subah) morning, दोपहर (dopahar) noon/afternoon, शाम (shām) evening, रात (rāt) night. So सुबह के आठ बजे is 8 a.m. and रात के आठ बजे is 8 p.m. घंटा (ghaṇṭā) is “hour” and मिनट (minaṭ) is “minute.”
Clock words are short and come up daily — a great early reading win. Learn Devanagari free in the script trainer, starting with your first letters.
Learn to read it — free trainer →Questions people ask
How do you say “o’clock” in Hindi?
बजे (baje). Put the hour number in front: एक बजे (one o’clock), छह बजे (six o’clock), दस बजे (ten o’clock). To ask the time, say कितने बजे हैं? (kitne baje haiṁ?), literally “how many o’clock is it?”
What do सवा, साढ़े and पौने mean?
They’re the quarter-words, placed before the hour. सवा (savā) is quarter past (+15): सवा चार = 4:15. साढ़े (sāṛhe) is half past (+30): साढ़े चार = 4:30. पौने (paune) is quarter to (−15): पौने पाँच = 4:45. Together they cover the common clock times without needing exact minutes.
Why is 1:30 डेढ़ and not साढ़े एक?
Hindi gives its two earliest halves special one-word names. डेढ़ (ḍeḍh) means 1:30 and ढाई (ḍhāī) means 2:30 — you never say साढ़े एक or साढ़े दो. From 3:30 onward, साढ़े works normally (साढ़े तीन, साढ़े चार). The two exceptions just have to be memorised.
How do you tell morning from evening times in Hindi?
Hindi mostly uses a 12-hour clock, so you add the part of the day in front: सुबह (subah) morning, दोपहर (dopahar) afternoon, शाम (shām) evening, रात (rāt) night. सुबह के आठ बजे is 8 a.m.; रात के आठ बजे is 8 p.m.