I have written very often about how to tell the time in German. And while I was working on that topic and thinking about it, I recognized that there are various ways how to tell the time in German and that there are even several exception depending on the phrase you use in your statement and on the occasion when you want to refer to time. Therefore, I decided to make a video series on time telling in German. This here is the first one, in which I discuss telling time with the phrase “Es ist um …” – which literally means “It is at …” Probably, some would say that it is better to translate “um” as ‘around’ but I do not agree with that. Enjoy!

Es ist um eins. – It is one o’clock.

Es ist um zwei. – It is two o’clock.

Es ist um drei. – It is three o’clock.

Es ist um vier. – It is four o’clock.

Es ist um fünf. – It is five o’clock.

Es ist um sechs. – It is six o’clock.

Es ist um sieben. – It is seven o’clock.

Es ist um acht. – It is eight o’clock.

Es ist um neun. – It is nine o’clock.

Es ist um zehn. – It is ten o’clock.

Es ist um elf. – It is eleven o’clock.

Es ist um zwölf. – It is twelve o’clock.

Note: You cannot use the 24-hour-system when using the phrase “Es ist um …” and do not add the word “Uhr” (clock) to the phrase when you only cite the time.