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 #2 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 21:22 pm Five of |
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Hi Torsten
You'll hear that in American English. You'll also occasionally hear "in front of". 
For 9:05 you'll hear "5 after nine".
Amy |
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| #3 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 21:25 pm Five of eight? |
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Hi Amy, thanks for your answer. So, five to eight would be the same as five of eight?
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Torsten
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| #4 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 21:49 pm Time? 5 of |
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Hi Torsten
Yes, that's right.
Also, there isn't any "half eight" in American English. (I believe that means 8:30 in British English.)
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| #5 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 22:18 pm Half eight = 'half past eight' |
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Yes Amy, half eight (which is short for half past eight in British English) is very confusing to German speakers.
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Torsten
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| #6 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 22:38 pm Half eight is not 'half past eight' |
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| Torsten wrote: |
| Yes Amy, half eight (which is short for half past eight in British English) is very confusing to German speakers. |
Hi!
Sorry I don?t agree here. The German expression "half eight" means half an hour to eight, so 7:30 in British English half past seven
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| #7 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 22:41 pm Half seven |
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Half past seven (7:30) is half seven in British English, that's why it's so confusing to Germans.
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| #9 (permalink) Mon Jul 10, 2006 6:48 am Time? 5 of |
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Usage of "of" and "after" is really interesting and unexpected for me. By the way, if I'm not mistaken there is also an expression "it's five minutes to..." in a sense of "It's high time or there is no time"
Correct me if I'm mistaken  |
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| #10 (permalink) Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:46 am "It's five minutes to" |
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Hi Pamela
| Quote: |
| "it's five minutes to..." |
That just sounds like a statement meaning that there is only 5 minutes' time remaining for something.
For example:
Let's say you're taking a timed test and the test is scheduled to end at 12:00. At 11:55 the teacher/tester might say "It's five minutes to" simply as a signal that the test will end in 5 minutes.
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| #11 (permalink) Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:57 pm Time? 5 of |
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| Torsten wrote: |
| According to the story five of means 8:55 p.m. but why is it five of and not five to? |
I have been confused all my life by what "five of" means. My mother used to say it all the time, and I was never sure whether she meant "five to" or "five after".
"half eight": When visiting my almost-native-sounding Czech girl in England, I gave up and started making her tell me the time in Czech, so I wouldn't be confused by "half five" and think it meant 4:30.
Amy, if you thought the German halb acht was bad, think of a language where they say things like "after ten minutes half eight" to mean 8:20. Anyway, I always took halb acht as meaning that eight o'clock is half full. It helped me to think of each hour as a container that could be filled halfway. Of course, that didn't stop me from showing up an hour late a lot. |
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| #12 (permalink) Mon Jul 10, 2006 13:57 pm "It's five minutes to" |
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| Yankee wrote: |
Hi Pamela
| Quote: |
| "it's five minutes to..." |
That just sounds like a statement meaning that there is only 5 minutes' time remaining for something.
For example:
Let's say you're taking a timed test and the test is scheduled to end at 12:00. At 11:55 the teacher/tester might say "It's five minutes to" simply as a signal that the test will end in 5 minutes.
Amy |
Hi Amy,
Yes, I know this meaning in this context, but I meant figurarive sense but if you say that there is no such a context " "It's high time or there is no time", so it's true. |
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| Difference between: You always say and You are always saying | Suffixes (-ing, -ive, -ivities) |
