Time is a significant part of our lives. Whether you’re a tourist, a non-native student, a businessman/businesswoman, or a resident in Turkey, you’ll need to talk about time in Turkish at some point. This is inevitable because our entire life revolves around time.

Table of Contents

1. Time Format Used in Turkey
2. How to Ask the Time in Turkish
3. Time Past the Hour
4. Time Half Past the Hour
5. Time to the Hour
6. More Time-Related Words
7. Time Proverbs and Sayings about Time in Turkish
8. Conclusion: How TurkishClass101 Can Help You Master Turkish

1. Time Format Used in Turkey

You need to learn about the time format used in Turkey before learning how to say “What time is it?” in Turkish, don’t you? 

Actually, Turkey uses both the twelve-hour clock and the twenty-four-hour clock (military time). In daily life, when having informal conversations, people use the twelve-hour clock. However, the following words are added to clarify whether the mentioned time is a.m. or p.m. in Turkish:

• Sabah – “Morning”
• Öğleden sonra – “Afternoon”
• Akşam – “Evening”
• Gece – “Night”

Later, after we explain how to say “What time is it?” in Turkish, we’ll give you some examples of how exactly these words are used in context.

Turkey uses the twenty-four-hour clock system as well. However, it’s mostly used by airlines, transportation companies, press, and the media. In other words, this format is typically preferred in formal situations.

2. How to Ask the Time in Turkish

You definitely need to know how to ask about time in Turkish when:

–       using any means of transportation

–       traveling

–       you have a business meeting

–       you have a class or an exam

–       you’re in a race or any other kind of sports activity

–       you have a reservation or an appointment in Turkey

Of course, there may also be other cases where you need to ask “What is the time?” in Turkish.

Are you ready to ask the time in the Turkish language? If yes, let’s start!

• Saat – “Hour” or “Clock”
• Kaç – “How many?”
• Saat kaç? – “What time is it?” (Informal way of asking)
• Saatiniz kaç? – “What time is it?” (Formal way of asking)
• Afedersiniz saat kaç acaba? – “Excuse me; I wonder what time it is.” (Formal and more polite)

Undoubtedly, you also need to know the numbers to be able to tell the time in Turkish. Once you’ve gone over our number resource, check out this quick breakdown of how telling time in Turkish works:

• Saat dört.      – “It is four o’clock.”
• Saat dokuz.   – “It is nine o’clock.”
• Saat on bir.  – “It is eleven o’clock.”

Now, let’s try to use the words mentioned above to refer to a.m. and p.m. in Turkish:

• Sabah beş – “Five a.m.” (Five in the morning)
• Öğleden sonra iki – “Two p.m.” (Two in the afternoon)
• Akşam yedi – “Seven p.m.” (Seven in the evening)
• Gece iki – “Two a.m.” (Two in the morning—in Turkish, it’s two at night)

For better understanding, here are some complete sentences using these words:

• Sabah beşten beri ayaktayım. – “I’ve been up since five a.m. (five in the morning).”
• Öğleden sonra ikide gideceğim. – “I will go at two p.m. (two in the afternoon.”
• Eşim akşam yedide gelecek. – “My husband will come at seven p.m. (seven in the evening).”
• Gece ikide yattım. – “I went to bed at two a.m. (two in the morning).”

3. Time Past the Hour

When you want to talk about the time past the hour, such as “five past nine,” you say the hour first, followed by a suffix.

–   If the hour ends with a vowel, then it takes a buffer, -y, then a suffix, either -ı or -i.

–   If the hour ends with a consonant, then it takes one of the following suffixes based on the Turkish vowel harmony rules:

-i, -ı, -u, or -ü.

Then you can add the minutes followed by the word “past.” Unlike English, in Turkish, the past form of the verb “to pass” isn’t used; the present continuous form of the verb is used.

Here are some examples to help this make more sense:

• Saat onu beş geçiyor. – “It’s five past ten.” (suffix -u is used)
• Saat yediyi yirmi geçiyor. – “It’s twenty past seven.” (buffer -y and suffix -i are used)
• Geçmek – “To pass”
• Geçiyor – “Passing”

1- Quarter past

When you want to say “quarter past,” the same rules apply, except that çeyrek (“quarter”) is used where the minutes are placed. Here are a couple of examples:

• Saat onbiri çeyrek geçiyor.  – “It’s a quarter past eleven.” (suffix -i is used)
• Saat altıyı çeyrek geçiyor.     – “It’s a quarter past six.” (buffer -y and suffix -ı are used)

4. Time Half Past the Hour

Saying “half past the hour” in Turkish is as simple as saying the whole hour because you don’t need to worry about a buffer or a suffix. You just need to add the word for “half,” after saying the hour. This is how to say it:

• Saat iki buçuk. – “It’s half past two.”
• Saat on buçuk. – “It’s half past ten.”
• Buçuk – “Half”

However, there’s one more thing about “half past the hour” you need to know. If you want to say “half past twelve,” then there’s one more way of expressing it in Turkish, which is more common than the way mentioned above.

• Saat yarım. – “It’s half past twelve.”
• Yarım – “Half”

5. Time to the Hour

To tell the time to the hour, the hour comes first, followed by:

• The buffer, -y, then a suffix, either -e or -a, if the hour ends with a vowel.
• A suffix, either -e or -a, if the hour ends with a consonant.

Then add the minute and the word that corresponds to “to.”

• Saat yediye on var. – “It’s ten to seven.” (buffer -y and suffix -e are used)
• Saat dokuza beş var. – “It’s five to nine.” (suffix -a is used)
• Var – “There is/there are” (used for “to”)

1- Quarter to

When you want to say “quarter to,” the above rules apply, except that çeyrek (“quarter”) is used where the minutes are placed. Here are a couple of examples for you:

• Saat on ikiye çeyrek var. – “It’s a quarter to twelve.” (buffer -y and suffix -e are used)
• Saat üçe çeyrek var. – “It’s a quarter to three.” (suffix -e is used)

6. More Time-Related Words

Now that we’ve covered how to tell time in Turkish, let’s go over other words related to time in the Turkish language.

• Zaman/vakit – “Time”
• Dakika – “Minute”
• Saniye – “Second”
• Öğlen – “Noon”
• Gece yarısı – “Midnight”
• Şimdi – “Now”
• Bugün – “Today”
• Dün – “Yesterday”
• Yarın – “Tomorrow”
• Gün – “Day”
• Hafta – “Week”
• Ay – “Month”
• Yıl – “Year”
• Asır/yüzyıl – “Century”
• Önce – “Before” / “Ago”
• Sonra – “After”
• Hemen şimdi – “Right now”
• Şu an/şu anda – “Currently”
• Aynı zamanda – “At the same time”
• Mümkün olan en kısa zamanda – “As soon as possible”
• Yakında – “Soon”
• Uzun zamandır – “For a long time”
• Birazdan – “In a little while”

Let’s use some of these time-related words in sentences:

• O, beş dakika önce buradaydı. – “She/he was here five minutes ago.”
• Toplantıdan önce kahve içtim. – “I drank coffee before the meeting.”
• Dersten sonra konsere gideceğim. – “I will go to the concert after the class.”
• Bugün okula gitmeyeceğim. – “I won’t go to school today.”
• Bu yıl İtalya’ya gideceğim. – “I will go to Italy this year.”
• Şu an çalışmıyorum. – “Currently, I am not working.”
• Yakında orada olacağım. – “I will be there soon.”
• Onu hemen şimdi arıyorum. – “I am calling her/him right now.”
• Seni uzun zamandır görmedim. – “I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
• Mümkün olan en kısa zamanda geleceğim. – “I will come as soon as possible.”

Months and days are also related to time. However, we won’t cover them in this article. You can learn the Turkish words for them by reading our article named How to Read Dates.

You can also check our dictionary if you need to look up other words.

7. Time Proverbs and Sayings about Time in Turkish

Like all other languages, there are proverbs and sayings about time in Turkish as well. You have the answer to the question “How do you say what time is it in Turkish?”, so now it’s time to meet these commonly used Turkish time expressions:

• Vakit nakittir. – “Time is money.” (It means that wasting time or delaying something costs money.)
• Zaman uçup gider. – “Time flies.” (It means time passes amazingly quickly.)
• Zaman herşeyin ilacıdır. – “Time heals all wounds.” (It means that as the time passes, disappointments and heartaches go away gradually.)
• Zaman geçmek bilmiyor. – “Time hangs heavy on hands.” (It means that time seems to pass slowly.)
• Nefes alacak zamanım yok. – “I don’t have time to catch my breath.” (It means “I am very busy.”)
• Başımı kaşıyacak vaktim yok. – “I don’t have time to catch my breath.” (It also means “I am very 
• busy.” Both this expression and the one above can be used interchangeably.)

Which of these time expressions in Turkish is your favorite, and why? 

8. Conclusion: How TurkishClass101 Can Help You Master Turkish

As you can see, it’s not that complicated to learn to say “What is the time?” in Turkish or to answer the question yourself.  As long as you learn the rules explained above, you can easily tell the time in Turkish. Of course, practicing as much as possible will facilitate the learning process for you.

We think learning about time for Turkish beginners is easy now!  Do you know why? Please check out our website and see for yourself how simple the learning process can be with TurkishClass101! 

But before you go, let us know in the comments how you feel about telling time in Turkish. More comfortable, or is there still something you’re having a hard time with? We look forward to hearing from you!