Wochentage, Monate und die Uhrzeit
You now have a Termin (Lesson 9) - so you need to know when it is. Days and months are the easy part today (mostly familiar cognates); telling time has one genuine trap worth slowing down for.
Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag - and months like Januar, März, Oktober are close cognates of English. Full lists: Reference - Time & Dates. No new grammar here, just vocabulary to absorb.
14:30 Uhr → vierzehn Uhr dreißig
09:15 Uhr → neun Uhr fünfzehn
This is what you'll see on Bürgeramt appointment letters, train timetables, and TV schedules - simple once you know your numbers from Lesson 2.
In everyday spoken German, halb zehn does not mean "half past ten." It means 9:30 - "halfway toward ten." German counts forward to the next hour; English counts back from the last one.
| halb zehn | 9:30 (not 10:30!) |
| Viertel nach neun | 9:15 |
| Viertel vor zehn | 9:45 |
This single word causes more missed appointments among learners than almost anything else in A1 German - worth saying out loud a few times until it feels natural rather than translated.
1. What time does "halb zehn" mean?
2. Say 14:30 the official way: vierzehn Uhr ______.
3. "What time is it?" - Wie ______ ist es?
4. What does "Viertel vor zehn" mean?
5. Which day is "Mittwoch"?
Cross-checked against the official Goethe-Zertifikat A1 Wortliste.
Want to practice reading real appointment times or train schedules? Ask your teaching agent to quiz you with random times.