Language/Croatian/Vocabulary/Telling-Time
As your Croatian language teacher, I am excited to teach you how to tell time in Croatian. Understanding how to express time in a new language is a valuable skill, and it will be especially useful when you're traveling or communicating with Croatian friends or colleagues. By the end of this lesson, you will know how to tell time using the 24-hour clock, ask for the time, and express time in various ways. Like all previous lessons in this course, we will practice using time expressions in complete sentences.
Telling Time
Let's start by looking at how to tell time in Croatian. In Croatia, the 24-hour clock is used more commonly than the 12-hour clock. This means that instead of dividing the day into two 12-hour periods (AM and PM), Croatians treat the whole day as a 24-hour period.
Here are some examples of how to tell time in Croatian:
| Croatian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| jedan sat | Yeh-dahn saht | One o'clock |
| dva sata | Dvah sah-tah | Two o'clock |
| tri sata | Tree saht-ah | Three o'clock |
| četiri sata | Chet-eer-ee saht-ah | Four o'clock |
| pet sati | Peht sah-tee | Five o'clock |
| šest sati | Shehst sah-tee | Six o'clock |
| sedam sati | Seh-dahm sah-tee | Seven o'clock |
| osam sati | Oh-sahm sah-tee | Eight o'clock |
| devet sati | Deh-vet sah-tee | Nine o'clock |
| deset sati | Deh-set sah-tee | Ten o'clock |
| jedanaest sati | Yeh-dah-na-est sah-tee | Eleven o'clock |
| dvanaest sati | Dvah-na-est sah-tee | Twelve o'clock |
In addition to the examples above, here are some useful phrases to express different times of day:
- In the morning - ujutro (oo-YOO-troh)
- In the afternoon - poslije podne (POHS-lye-yeh POHD-neh)
- In the evening - navečer (nah-VEH-cher)
- At night - noću (NOH-choo)
24-hour clock
As mentioned earlier, Croatians use the 24-hour clock more commonly than the 12-hour clock. This means that when telling time, you may hear or see numbers over 12. For example, if it is 2 o'clock PM, you would say "četrnaest sati" (CHETR-nahst sah-tee), which means "14 o'clock" in Croatian.
Here are some examples of how to tell time on the 24-hour clock in Croatian:
| Croatian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| nula sati / ponoć | NOO-lah sah-tee / POH-notch | Midnight (lit. "0 o'clock") |
| jedan sat | Yeh-dahn saht | 1:00 |
| dva sata | Dvah sah-tah | 2:00 |
| tri sata | Tree saht-ah | 3:00 |
| četiri sata | Chet-eer-ee saht-ah | 4:00 |
| pet sati | Peht sah-tee | 5:00 |
| šest sati | Shehst sah-tee | 6:00 |
| sedam sati | Seh-dahm sah-tee | 7:00 |
| osam sati | Oh-sahm sah-tee | 8:00 |
| devet sati | Deh-vet sah-tee | 9:00 |
| deset sati | Deh-set sah-tee | 10:00 |
| jedanaest sati | Yeh-dah-na-est sah-tee | 11:00 |
| dvanaest sati | Dvah-na-est sah-tee | 12:00 (noon) |
| trinaest sati | TREE-nahst sah-tee | 1:00 PM |
| četrnaest sati | CHETR-nahst sah-tee | 2:00 PM |
| petnaest sati | PEHT-nahst sah-tee | 3:00 PM |
| šesnaest sati | SHEH-stnahst sah-tee | 4:00 PM |
| sedamnaest sati | SEH-dahm-na-st sah-tee | 5:00 PM |
| osamnaest sati | OH-sahm-na-st sah-tee | 6:00 PM |
| devetnaest sati | DEH-vet-nahst sah-tee | 7:00 PM |
| dvadeset sati | DVAH-deh-seht sah-tee | 8:00 PM |
| dvadeset jedan sat | DVAH-deh-seht YEH-dahn saht | 9:00 PM |
Note that when using the 24-hour clock, "PM" times add 12 hours to the numbers under 12. So 7:00 PM becomes 19:00 in the 24-hour clock. To get back to the 12-hour format, subtract 12 from the 24-hour number. For example, 21:00 (9 PM) minus 12 is 9:00 PM (or 21:00 again, but in the 12-hour format).
Expressing Time in Various Ways
In addition to telling time, there are other ways to express time in Croatian. Here are some examples:
- Half past the hour - pola plus the number of the hour (e.g. pola jedan for 12:30)
- Quarter past the hour - četvrt sata plus the number of the hour (e.g. četvrt sata tri for 3:15)
- Quarter to the hour - tri četvrtine plus the number of the next hour (e.g. tri četvrtine pet for 4:45)
Here are some examples of expressing time in different ways:
| Croatian | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| petnaest minuta do pet | PEHT-nahst MEE-noo-tah do PEHT | 4:45 PM (lit. "15 minutes to five") |
| pola tri | POH-lah tree | 2:30 PM (lit. "half past two") |
| dvadeset minuta do sedam | DVAH-deh-seht MEE-noo-tah do SEH-dahm | 6:40 PM (lit. "20 minutes to seven") |
| četvrt sata sedamnaest | CHET-veert sah-tah SEH-dahm-na-st | 5:15 PM (lit. "quarter past five") |
Remember that in Croatian, the hour comes before the minutes, and there is a space between them.
Asking for the Time
Finally, let's practice how to ask someone for the time in Croatian. Here are some useful phrases:
- Koliko je sati? (KOH-lee-koh yeh sah-tee) - What time is it?
- Možete li mi reći koji je sat? (MOH-zheh-teh lee mee REH-tchee KOH-yee yeh saht) - Can you tell me what time it is?
To be more specific about the time you're asking for, you can add a phrase like "in the morning" or "in the evening":
- Koliko je sati ujutro? (KOH-lee-koh yeh sah-tee OO-yoo-troh) - What time is it in the morning?
- Koliko je sati navečer? (KOH-lee-koh yeh sah-tee nah-VEH-cher) - What time is it in the evening?
Conclusion
Congratulations on learning how to tell time in Croatian! By now, you should be able to use the 24-hour clock, express time in different ways, and asking for the time. Remember to practice using time expressions in complete sentences as much as possible, and don't hesitate to ask your Croatian-speaking friends for help or feedback. In the next lesson, we will continue to build your Croatian language skills by learning how to conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the present tense. See you then!