How to Tell Time

Man started telling time centuries ago. Initially the time of day was guessed by looking at where the sun was in the sky. The sundial followed, using a shadow caused by the sun and telling the time by reading the number the shadow was resting on. Today we use analog clocks, which tell time using dials, and digital clocks, which display the time. Here are the steps to learn how to read a dial clock.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Observe the numbers on the face of the clock. The number 12 is at the very top, and the numbers that follow in a clockwise direction are from one to 11. The 12 hours on a clock represent half of a 24 hour day.

2. Look at the lines between the numbers on the clock. These represent the 60 minutes that make up one hour. Most clocks have 12 lines on the face of the clock. Each line represents five minutes.

3. Notice the clock has two dials, or what are call hands. The small hand indicates the hour, and the big hand indicates the minute. As the big hand moves around the 60 minutes of the clock, the small hand slowly moves from one hour to the next.

4. Tell the time by first looking at the small hand of the clock and determining the hour. Then look at the big hand of the clock and determine the minute. If the small hand is at the 2, and the big hand is on the 6th line, or the 30 minute mark, then the time is 2:30.

5. Write the time of day by separating the hours and minutes with a colon. When the big hand is on the 5 and the small hand is on the 9th line, it would be written as 5:45. 15 minute intervals are called quarter hours.
   A.M. is from 12:01 at night until 11:59 in the morning. P.M. is from 12:00 in the day until 12:00 at night.