Half / Quarter Past

Free interactive math game: Half / Quarter Past — Clock in words. Part of the Numbers Around Us category on MathKite.

Example problems

Taken from the generator that powers this exercise. A fresh set appears every time the page is opened, and the printable worksheet holds ten of them.

  1. What time is shown on the clock? quarter to 10, half past 9, quarter past 9, 9 o'clock
  2. What time is shown on the clock? quarter past 7, half past 7, 7 o'clock, quarter to 8
  3. What time is shown on the clock? quarter to 7, 6 o'clock, half past 6, quarter past 6
  4. What time is shown on the clock? quarter past 1, quarter to 2, 1 o'clock, half past 1

About this exercise

Using the everyday phrases for time — half past, quarter past and quarter to.

How to solve it

A quarter of an hour is 15 minutes and a half is 30. Past counts forwards from the hour just gone, while to counts backwards from the hour ahead.

Worked example

Quarter to 6 means 15 minutes before six, which is 5:45. Half past 5 means 5:30.

Common mistake

Naming the wrong hour with to. Quarter to 6 sits inside the hour that began at 5, so it is 5:45 and not 6:45.