Telling Time in Persian: How to Ask and Say the Time in Farsi

To ask the time in Persian, say ساعت چنده؟ (sâ’at chande?), the everyday spoken form of ساعت چند است؟ (sâ’at chand ast?). The answer starts with ساعت (sâ’at, “hour”) plus a number: ساعت سه است (sâ’at se ast), “it’s three o’clock.” Add و نیم (o nim) for half past, و ربع (o rob’) for quarter past, and use به (be) for “to”: یک ربع به چهار, “quarter to four.”

That is the whole system in one paragraph. Persian time-telling is more regular than English: no “a.m.” or “p.m.” stuck on the end, no “o’clock” versus “hour” confusion, and the same little word و (o, “and”) links every part. Below you will learn the numbers you need, each pattern with examples, the words Iranians use for morning, noon, afternoon and night, the 24-hour clock you will see on tickets and TV, and the spoken shortcuts people really use. A clock quiz and practice exercises follow each part.

How to ask “What time is it?” in Persian

There are two common ways to ask, one for writing and careful speech and one for everyday conversation.

Listen to the two main forms: ساعت چند است؟ Listen ساعت چنده؟ Listen

The word چند (chand) means “how many” or “what number,” so the question is literally “The hour is what number?” In spoken Persian است (ast, “is”) shrinks to a short -e sound attached to the word before it, which is why چند است becomes چنده (chande). You will see the same shortening in the answers: in conversation “it’s three” is sâ’at se-e rather than sâ’at se ast.

Be polite with strangers. Start with ببخشید (bebakhshid, “excuse me”) Listen and use the plural/polite verb form دارید (dârid). With friends you can just say ساعت چنده؟

The numbers you need: 1 to 12 and the minutes

You only need a small set of numbers to tell the time: one to twelve for the hours, and the multiples of five for the minutes. If numbers are new to you, review them first in Persian numbers 1 to 1,000 or the Persian numbers vocabulary list.

For minutes, use دقیقه (daghighe, “minute”): پنج دقیقه (panj daghighe, 5 minutes), ده دقیقه (dah daghighe), بیست دقیقه (bist daghighe), بیست و پنج دقیقه (bist o panj daghighe). Notice that Persian joins compound numbers with و (o) too: twenty-five is “twenty and five.” Two more words do the work of 15 and 30:

• ربع (rob’) means “a quarter”; یک ربع (yek rob’, spoken ye rob’) is “a quarter of an hour,” 15 minutes.
• نیم (nim) means “half”; نیم ساعت (nim sâ’at) is half an hour.

Telling time in Persian: the four patterns

1. On the hour

ساعت + number (+ است): ساعت هفت است (sâ’at haft ast), “it’s seven o’clock.” Listen In speech: sâ’at haft-e, or just haft.

2. Past the hour: hour + o + minutes

Put و (o, “and”) between the hour and the minutes, exactly like “seven and ten.”

Listen: ساعت هفت و ربع Listen ساعت هفت و نیم Listen

In relaxed speech the word دقیقه is often dropped: haft o dah (7:10), haft o bist (7:20). Nobody will misunderstand you.

3. To the hour: minutes + be + next hour

After half past, Persian usually counts down to the next hour with به (be, “to”). The minutes come first, then به, then the coming hour:

Listen: ساعت یک ربع به هشت Listen ساعت ده دقیقه به هشت Listen

Two things to watch. First, the hour after به is the next hour: 7:45 is “a quarter to eight,” not “to seven.” Second, you can also read the clock straight through with و, as in هفت و چهل و پنج دقیقه (haft o chehel o panj daghighe, “seven forty-five”). That is correct and common when reading a digital display, in announcements, or for exact times like 7:43. For round times in conversation, the به pattern sounds more natural.

You may also hear an older-style colloquial form with کم (kam, “less”): hasht, ye rob’ kam, “eight less a quarter,” for 7:45. It is understood everywhere, but the به pattern is the one to learn first.

4. Exact minutes

For any minute that is not a multiple of five, use the straight-through pattern: ساعت دو و هفده دقیقه (sâ’at do o hivdah daghighe), 2:17. The numbers 11 to 19 are یازده (yâzdah), دوازده (davâzdah), سیزده (sizdah), چهارده (chahârdah), پانزده (pânzdah), شانزده (shânzdah), هفده (hivdah), هجده (hijdah), نوزده (nuzdah).

Morning, noon and night: Persian instead of a.m. and p.m.

Persian does not use a.m. and p.m. in speech. Instead, you add a word for the part of the day after the hour, linked with the ezâfe -e (-ye after a vowel). If the ezâfe is new to you, see the ezâfe in Persian.

Listen: ساعت هفت صبح Listen ساعت دو بعدازظهر Listen ساعت نه شب Listen

Where exactly one part of the day ends and the next begins is a matter of habit, not a rule. Roughly: صبح until about noon, ظهر around 12 to 1, بعدازظهر in the early afternoon, عصر from about 4 until sunset, and شب after dark. For the small hours (1 to 4 a.m.) you will hear both نصف شب and صبح, for example sâ’at se-ye nesf-e shab or sâ’at se-ye sobh for 3 a.m.

On phones and computers set to Persian, a.m. and p.m. appear as the abbreviations ق.ظ (for قبل‌ازظهر) and ب.ظ (for بعدازظهر). You will see them on screens, but people do not say them aloud.

The 24-hour clock and digital times

In Iran the 24-hour clock is used for train and flight times, TV schedules, news, and many offices. Times are written with Persian digits, for example ۱۴:۳۰, and read with و between the parts: ساعت چهارده و سی دقیقه (sâ’at chahârdah o si daghighe), “14:30.” In everyday conversation, people convert back to the 12-hour clock: the same time is sâ’at do o nim-e ba’d az zohr.

Persian digits are ۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹. So ۸:۱۵ is 8:15 and ۲۱:۴۵ is 21:45. To practice converting between digits and words, try the Persian number converter.

Talking about when: at, from, until, around

Telling the time is half the job. The other half is saying when things happen. Here are the phrases you will use most with schedules, appointments and plans.

Listen: از ساعت نه تا پنج Listen نیم ساعت Listen

Keep clock time and duration apart. ساعت دو (sâ’at do) is “two o’clock,” but دو ساعت (do sâ’at) is “two hours.” The word order is the whole difference. The same word ساعت also means “clock” and “watch”: ساعت مچی (sâ’at-e mochi) is a wristwatch. For more time words, see sâ’at, the Persian word for clock and hour and vaght, the Persian word for time.

Spoken vs. written: what you will actually hear

Textbooks teach the full forms; Iranians in Tehran and most cities shorten them. Recognizing the spoken versions matters more than producing them perfectly. For a wider list of these changes, see spoken vs written Persian.

• ast drops to -e: ساعت پنج است becomes sâ’at panj-e; ساعت چند است؟ becomes sâ’at chande?
• yek becomes ye: یک ربع is said ye rob’.
• Some numbers shorten: چهار (chahâr) is usually châr; شش (shesh) is usually shish in Tehran speech.
• daghighe disappears: panj o bist for 5:20, bist be shish for 5:40.
• sâ’at is often skipped in answers: “ساعت چنده؟” “se o nim.” Just the time is enough.

A short exchange as you might hear it:

The course lesson Day 18: What time is it? walks through a full conversation about time, and the beginner review of numbers and telling time reviews numbers and time together.

Days and dates go with time

Once you can tell the time, you will want the day too. The Persian week starts on Saturday, شنبه (shanbe), and the weekend falls on Friday, جمعه (jom’e). To set a time on a day, put the day first: شنبه ساعت نه صبح (shanbe sâ’at-e noh-e sobh), Saturday at 9 a.m. Iran also uses its own solar calendar; see the Persian calendar, days and months, and to convert dates use the Persian date converter.

Common questions

How do you say “what time is it” in Farsi?

Say ساعت چنده؟ (sâ’at chande?) in conversation, or ساعت چند است؟ (sâ’at chand ast?) in writing and formal speech. To ask a stranger, add ببخشید (bebakhshid, “excuse me”) first.

How do you say “o’clock” in Persian?

There is no separate word. Put ساعت (sâ’at) before the number: ساعت دو (sâ’at do) means “two o’clock.” Putting the number first, دو ساعت (do sâ’at), means “two hours.”

How do you say half past and quarter past in Persian?

Half past is hour + و نیم (o nim), for example ساعت پنج و نیم, 5:30. Quarter past is hour + و ربع (o rob’), for example ساعت پنج و ربع, 5:15. Quarter to is یک ربع به + next hour: ساعت یک ربع به شش, 5:45.

How do you say a.m. and p.m. in Persian?

In speech, add a part of the day after the hour: صبح (sobh, morning), ظهر (zohr, noon), بعدازظهر (ba’d az zohr, afternoon), عصر (‘asr, late afternoon) or شب (shab, night). Formal schedules use قبل‌ازظهر for a.m. and بعدازظهر for p.m., abbreviated ق.ظ and ب.ظ.

Do Iranians use the 24-hour clock?

Yes, in writing and official settings: tickets, TV listings, news and office hours. In conversation most people use the 12-hour clock with a part-of-day word, so 18:00 is usually said ساعت شش عصر (sâ’at shish-e ‘asr) or ساعت شش شب.

Ready to keep going? Test yourself with the Persian numbers quiz, and if you want a structured path from the alphabet to real conversations like these, the course book below covers numbers and time on Day 18.

Related guides: Yesterday, today and tomorrow in Persian

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