# The time



## (Infant)ry

Hear ye, hear ye. Hi to you all lovely Romanians out there.

Let`s get to the point. I need some serious help with this one, so could you please explain to me in brief how to tell time in Romanian. Make it a short lesson. Here are some tips to start off:

What time is it - 

9:00 - 
13:00 -
12:00 -
14:15 - 
15:30 - 
16:45 - 
17:55 - 
8:35 - 
19:25 -
7:23 - 
15:41 -
16:40 -
13:38 - 
20:17 -
21:06 - 
21:01 - 
00:00 - 

P.S. Please refer to if you use the pm, am variant also.
P.S.2. Please point out if there are more ways to tell  hours and minutes, ex.( 6:15 - quarter past six or six fifteen).


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## Trisia

Erm... here's how I'd say them, but I'm not saying Edd-d'uh-kate-ed people say it the same way  

9:00 - Nouă [fix] / nouă dimineaţa
13:00 - unu după-amiaza / ora treisprezece
12:00 - ora prânzului / doisprezece
14:15 - două şi un sfert [după-amiaza] / paisprezece şi cincisprezece minute
15:30 - trei şi jumătate [după-amiaza] / trei-treizeci _(spoken)_
16:45 - cinci fără un sfert [după-amiaza] / şaisprezece şi patruzeci şi cinci de minute.
17:55 - şaptisprezece şi cinzeci şi cinci de minute / şase fără cinci [după-amiaza]
8:35 - opt şi treizeci şi cinci / nouă fără douăzeci şi cinci
19:25 -şapte şi douăzeci şi cinci [seara] / nouăsprezece şi douăzeci şi cinci
7:23 - şapte şi douăzeci şi trei
15:41 -trei şi patruzeci şi unu (_pronounced_ trei-patru'ş'unu) [după-amiaza] / patru fără nouăsprezece minute
16:40 - şaisprezece şi patruzeci (_pron_. şai'şpe-patruzeci) / cinci fără douăzeci
13:38 - treisprezece şi treizeci şi opt (_often pron._ trei'şpe-trei'ş'opt)
20:17 - opt şi şaptisprezece (or şapti'şpe) seara / douăzeci şi şaptisprezece
21:06 - nouă şi şase seara / ora douăzeci şi unu şi şase minute
21:01 - nouă şi unu seara / ora douăzeci şi un minut
00:00 - miezul nopţii / ora doisprezece noaptea

P.S. In writing we use a.m. and p.m., but in speech you'll get dimineaţa/noaptea (a.m.) or după-amiaza/seara (p.m.), and we only add those when we know otherwise people won't be able to tell what we're talking about. True, some people still pronounce "antemeridian" and "postmeridian" but last time I heard that was a looong time ago.


And of course this took so much *time* and effort I'll let someone else explain the basics (and fix my errors ). I filled this based on how I'd probably say it on the spur of the moment, no rules.


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## (Infant)ry

You forgot to tell me the most important:

What time is it: (without the word ceas please)

   and how would I say for. ex. It`s 13:31. E (ora) unu şi treizeci şi unu (minute)  ( după -amiaza) or sunt (ora) treisprezece -//-, 12:32. E (ora) prânzului şi treizeci şi două (minute) or sunt (ora) doisprezece fără optsprezece (minute), 00:24. E miezul nopţii şi douăzeci şi patru (minute) or sunt (ora) doisprezece şi douăzeci şi patru (minute)? seara


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## Trisia

Ehhh... OK.

Cât este ceasul?  -- what do you want, it's the most common way, and I have no problem with it.

-- Cât e/este ora?
-- Este ora treisprezece/Este ora unu/Este ora unu după-amiază.

Oh, all right.

Dacă e 12:00 (fix), spun prânz/amiază. Dacă nu, atunci spun doisprezece şi treizeci/jumătate/un sfert/trei minute.


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## (Infant)ry

Well, I do, I think the the word orar is much suitable even if it does mean schedule too. And of course thank you very much.


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## Trisia

> I think the the word orar is much more suitable


Orar only means schedule.

Oră = hour. Also used to mean time in the "What time is it?" question.


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## (Infant)ry

Then, what about pendulă?


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## Trisia

_Ceas_ can mean "hour" (_am aşteptat un ceas_ - I waited for one hour) or watch/clock.
Ceas deşteptător = alarm clock
Ceas de mână = watch

[lucky for you, you can say "sundial" as cadran solar]

_Pendulă_ is a type of clock, specifically the pendulum clock. (even the name itself is a bit of a giveaway...)
We also _pendulă_ the longcase clock (or grandfather clock), which is after all a pendulum clock anyway.

 You're fighting a nonsensical war here and quite frankly I'm almost fed up myself. I see the boys already don't seem to want to answer any more of these questions. *We're all happy to help*, but not if all you do is trash our language and culture in the name of some Latin ideal of yours. Freedom of speech shouldn't be confused with the right to bully others.


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## OldAvatar

Trisia said:


> Orar only means schedule.



Not only. It is also the physical indicator of the current hour  on analogic clocks.
I guess, the term that Infantry would like to hear is _orologiu_. But that actually defines a public big clock.


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