Language/Vietnamese/Vocabulary/Time

Just like other languages, Vietnamese has words for time: “giờ” (hour), “phút” (minute), “giây” (second)

2 systems

There are two systems in Vietnam: 12-hour system and 24-hour system.

If you use 12-hour system, it’s necessary to add sáng (a.m) and chiều (p.m) after saying the hour.

If you use 24-hour system, it’ll be 13, 14,… from noon.

The most basic way to tell the time is to follow this formula:

number + “giờ” + number + “phút”

Example:

• 8:45 => 8 giờ 45 phút
• 17:27 => 17 giờ 27 phút

Asking the time

These are a few examples of the question when you want want to know the time:

• Bây giờ là mấy giờ ? (What time is it?)

• Bạn có thể xem giúp tôi mấy giờ rồi không? (Can you tell me what time it is?)

• Bạn có biết mấy giờ rồi không? (Do you know what time it is?)

• Mấy giờ rồi nhỉ? (What time is it?)

Telling the time

Giờ hơn (the minute < 30): Comparatively: Formula: Number + “giờ” + “hơn”/”Hơn” + number + “giờ”

We use this way when it’s not necessary to tell the exact time or we don’t know exactly either.

Example:

• 12 giờ hơn rồi đấy. (It’s a little bit over 12)

• Chắc hơn 7 giờ thôi. (It’s probably past 7)

Exactly: We use the basic formula: number + “giờ” + number + “phút”

Giờ kém (the minute > 30): Comparatively: Formula: Number + “giờ” + “kém”

The same as “giờ hơn”, this way is used when it doesn’t have to tell the exact time.

Example: 9 giờ kém rồi bạn. (It’s st almost 6)

Exactly: Formula: (number+1) + “giờ” + “kém” + (60-number) + “phút”

VD: 18:45 => 19 giờ kém 15 phút

7:56 => giờ kém 4 phút

Some special cases

Giờ đúng: If it’s exactly o’clock we will use “giờ đúng”.

VD: 12:00 => 12 giờ đúng

Giờ rưỡi: When it’s half pas, we can say “rưỡi” or “30 phút”.

VD: 6:30 => 6 rưỡi or 6 giờ 30 phút

Cultural Note

There are also many ways of telling time in Vietnamese.

For example, 1:55 PM:

• Mười ba giờ năm mươi lăm: Thirteen fifteen (24-hour clock).
• Một giờ năm mươi lăm chiều: One fifteen in the afternoon.
• Hai giờ kém năm chiều: Five ‘till two in the afternoon. ƒ

The Vietnamese 24-hour timeline is broken into five approximate periods:

• sáng = morning, 5:00 – 11:00 AM
• trưa = noon, 12:00 PM
• chiều = afternoon, 1:00 – 5:00
• tối = evening, 6:00 – 10:00 PM
• khuya = late at night, 11:00 PM – 4:00 AM

Sources

https://media.clear.msu.edu/store-products/vietnameseguide.pdf

https://tiengviet24h.com/en/how-to-tell-the-time-in-vietnamese-2/