Serbia Today: Telling time

To ask about the time, we say: „Koliko je sati?“

To answer that question, we simply say the numbers:

8:15 / 20:15

3:07 / 15:07

5:20 / 17:20

Attention!  We don’t use AM or PM marks. For AM we write the hours from 1 to 12, for PM we write numbers from 13 to 24.

In speech, we can say “ujutru” for am, or “po podne” for 1 to 6pm , or “uveče” for 7 to 10pm, or “noću” for 11pm to 3am.

• 8:15 – osam i petnaest ujutru
• 20:15 – osam i petnaest uveče
• 3:07 – tri i sedam ujutru
• 15:07 – tri i sedam po podne
• 13:30 – pola dva po podne
• 1:30 – pola dva noću / ujutru

Attention! We don’t say the big numbers (petnaest, dvadeset), unless in very formal occasions:

• “Konferencija za novinare je u petak u četrnaest časova.” The press conference is on Friday at 2pm.

In such very formal phrases, we use the word “čas” and “časovi” instead of “sat”.

It’s good to know, in case your country doesn’t use the 24/hour marks:

• 13 = 1
• 14 = 2
• 15 = 3
• 16 = 4
• 17 = 5
• 18 = 6
• 19 = 7
• 20 = 8
• 21 = 9
• 22 = 10
• 23 = 11
• 24 = 12

If it’s at half an hour, we say half the hour that’s going to be in half an hour. That is, instead of saying ‘half past three’, we’ll say ‘half [until] four’.

8:30 / 20:30

00:30 / 12:30

6:30 / 18:30

If it’s past half an hour, we say how many minutes until the full hour.

9:45 / 21:45

3:50 / 15:50  

7:35 / 19:35

To say the exact hour, we can say ‘tačno’ (exactly):

2:00 / 14:00

5:00 / 17:00 

12:00

24:00

The difference between AM and PM:

• ujutru = in the morning
• pre podne = before noon
• posle podne or po podne = after noon
• uveče = in the evening
• noću = at night

6 – šest ujutru (6am)

10 – deset pre podne (10am)

12 – dvanaest po podne (12pm)

16 – četiri po podne (4pm)

21 – devet uveče (9pm)

00 – dvanaest noću (12am)

1 – jedan noću (1am)

To ask when, we say: „Kada?“ or „U koliko sati?“

And we answer with the preposition „u“, which means in or at, and a number.

Kada? – U 10.

When? – At 10.

We often use uveče (in the evening) instead of posle podne (PM), and ujutro (in the morning) instead of pre podne (AM).