Telling time in Dutch: how it works (and the "half" trap)
In Dutch the half hour counts towards the next hour, so half vier is 3:30. Read it as 4:30 and you arrive an hour late.
half vier = 3:30
Literally "half four", meaning halfway to four o'clock.
How to say the time
On the hour you say the hour followed by uur: three o'clock is drie uur. For minutes Dutch uses over (past) and voor (to), so tien over drie is 3:10 and tien voor vier is 3:50. A quarter is kwart: 3:15 is kwart over drie and 3:45 is kwart voor vier.
Half is the half hour, counted towards the next hour: half vier is 3:30. Minutes close to the half hour are counted from half. 3:25 is vijf voor half vier (five to half four) and 3:35 is vijf over half vier (five past half four). Ten minutes work the same way, so 3:20 is tien voor half vier.
All times from 3:00 to 3:55
| 3:00 | drie uur |
| 3:05 | vijf over drie |
| 3:10 | tien over drie |
| 3:15 | kwart over drie |
| 3:20 | tien voor half vier |
| 3:25 | vijf voor half vier |
| 3:30 | half vier |
| 3:35 | vijf over half vier |
| 3:40 | tien over half vier |
| 3:45 | kwart voor vier |
| 3:50 | tien voor vier |
| 3:55 | vijf voor vier |
What about the 24-hour clock?
Timetables and tickets say 15:30, but in speech almost everyone uses the 12-hour clock and says half vier. To be precise you add 's ochtends (in the morning), 's middags (in the afternoon) or 's avonds (in the evening).
Try 10 clocks