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I have a problem concerning times of the day in English.

Am I doing it right? I’m particularly interested in the bolded ones (midnight/noon/midday). Do they require any prepositions? Would it be correct to write and say, for example: It’s twelve o’clock at midnight? When it comes to 18:00 – is “It’s six o’clock in the evening” also correct? Take a look at the sentences after OR. Are they correct? Is everything correct?

0:00 – It’s twelve o’clock midnight.

0:01 – It’s one past twelve in the morning.

1:00 – It’s one o’clock in the morning.

2:00 – It’s two o’clock in the morning.

3:00 – It’s three o’clock in the morning.

4:00 – It’s four o’clock in the morning.

5:00 – It’s five o’clock in the morning.

6:00 – It’s six o’clock in the morning.

7:00 – It’s seven o’clock in the morning.

8:00 – It’s eight o’clock in the morning.

9:00 – It’s nine o’clock in the morning.

10:00 – It’s ten o’clock in the morning.

11:00 – It’s eleven o’clock in the morning.

12:00 – It’s twelve o’clock noon. = It’s twelve o’clock midday.

12:01 – It’s one past twelve in the afternoon.

13:00 – It’s one o’clock in the afternoon.

14:00 – It’s two o’clock in the afternoon.

15:00 – It’s five o’clock in the afternoon.

16:00 – It’s four o’clock in the afternoon.

17:00 – It’s five o’clock in the afternoon.

18:00 – It’s six o’clock in the afternoon.
or

It’s six o’clock in the evening.

18:01 – It’s six o’clock in the evening.

19:00 – It’s seven o’clock in the evening.

20:00 - It’s eight o’clock in the evening.

21:00 - It’s nine o’clock in the evening.

22:00 - It’s ten o’clock in the evening.

or

It’s ten o’clock at night.

22:01 – It’s one past ten at night.

23:00 – It’s eleven o’clock at night.

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  • 'Twelve midnight' and 'twelve noon' are pretty standard, although a lot of people nowadays use '12 a.m.' and '12 p.m.', which I personally find silly and ambiguous, since 'a.m.' means 'before noon'. Also, for numbers of minutes smaller than 5, we usually say 'one minute past' the hour.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 9:49
  • What about the prepositions? Can I use: It’s twelve o’clock at midnight.; It’s twelve o’clock at midday.; It’s twelve o’clock at noon?
    – masterkomp
    Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 12:36
  • I think most people would just say "It's midnight" or (in daytime) "It's twelve (o'clock)." The usage '12 p.m.' which irritates me is usually seen in announcements of events or opening times. BTW, on second thoughts, we usually say 'X minutes' for any time that isn't a multiple of 5, for example "It's thirteen minutes to two."
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 12:59

1 Answer 1

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Everything you wrote is correct in some context, even the alternate choices for afternoon, evening and night. The context of latitude and season might make it more likely to use evening and night earlier.

For example, in summer, at high latitude, a speaker would be more likely to say, "five in the afternoon," or even, "six in the afternoon." On a dreary winter day, when it could be dark by 3 PM, those might be considered night time. Though there may be formal rules base solely on time of day, colloquially, insolation would affect choice of words.

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2
  • What about the prepositions? Can I use: It’s twelve o’clock at midnight.; It’s twelve o’clock at midday.; It’s twelve o’clock at noon?
    – masterkomp
    Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 13:21
  • @masterkomp, in your question, the use of prepositions is correct. One does not say "twelve o'clock at midnight (or noon)," because at implies an event during a span of time, i.e. nighttime, morning or evening, and noon and midnight are just an instant.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 17:33

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