Telling Time

[Altair]

I recently learned that the terms 早上 , 上午, 中午 , and 下午 overlap each other somewhat. I was particular surprised to see something like 中午一点, since I had only thought of 中午 as "noon," and not as "midday." Can anyone explain when these terms start and stop, approximately?

[Quest]

To me, roughly 早上 can be 5am-11am, 上午 can be 9am-12pm, 中午 can be 11am-2pm, 正午 12pm-1pm, 下午 2pm-7pm, 晚上/夜晚 -> 6pm -> 0am, 深夜 0am->4am, 凌晨 1am->6am

so yea.. there can be overlaps.

[LiYuanXi]

I know there are some different ways of telling the time too.

For example (singapore):

2:15pm = 两点三

2:30pm = 两点半

2:40pm = 两点八

3pm = 三点

However, i heard people saying -

2:15pm = 两点一刻 ， 两点十五etc..

What other ways are there to tell the time?

[skylee]

For example (singapore):

2:15pm = 两点三

...

2:40pm = 两点八

I think these are not standard. But this is the way we speak in HK too. For 2:15 and 2:40 we say 兩點三(個字) and 兩點八(個字) respectively. 2:15 can also be 兩點一個骨 (which means a quarter past two as a quarter of butter is also 一個骨牛油).

However' date=' i heard people saying -

2:15pm = 两点一刻 ， 两点十五etc..[/quote']

I think these are standard ways.

[Ian_Lee]

Don't ever go to any HK-style cafe at 三点三 in Hong Kong because that is the time construction workers take a tea break.

That is a British legacy. But most construction workers, who have none whatsover relationship with the British, still strangely adhere to this tradition.

[zhxlier]

To me,

早上/早晨 5-9am

上午 9-11am

中午 11am-2pm

下午 2-6pm

晚上 6-11pm

夜里 11pm-4am

凌晨 1am-5am

I'm a native Chinese speaker who is from Beijing. HTH.