How to Tell Time in Egyptian Arabic : Part One

Introduction

Time.

You know you should have learned how to say it by now, but you’ve probably been too busy perfecting your beer-ordering skills.

That’s quite alright with us. Now that it’s summer in Egypt, that’s a skill that will probably serve you better, anyway.

Still, everybody should know how to read a clock in their target language.

Even if, as you will see at the end, Egyptians aren’t the best at following it.

Today, Cleo Lingo will be explaining…..how to tell time in Egyptian Arabic.

Vocabulary

Today’s post is going to be nice and short.

We will give you the need-to-know information, as well as some examples to put things in context. These are followed by “literal explanations” (see below) for a clear understanding. This will help you understand the system a bit better.

The main words you need to construct times in Cairo are “and” و and “minus” إلا.

Here is the system: say the hour first, followed by the minute.

This is done by saying “hour and minute” or “hour minus minute.”

Stick with us.

The tricky part is that Egyptians are all about “approximations” here. Unless the minute is within ten minutes of a full hour (some time between 4:50 and 5:10, for example), Egyptians will use what we will call “approximation.”

Here are those approximations:

“Fourth” (ROHbaw), or 15 minutes.

ربع

“Third” (TEHlitt), or 20 minutes.

تلت

“Half” (NUSS), or 30 minutes.

نص

Thinking of these as “fourth (quarter) / third / half of an hour” will clear things up in your head. We do the same in English.

But because Egyptians use the “and” or “minus” thing, “fourth” is used when the “minute” on the clock is either 15 (“wuh ROHbah”) or 45 (“EHluh ROWbah”).

Just make sure that you say the next hour, and not the one that it says on the clock. Because hey, 9:45 literally is “10 minus 15.”

Here are some examples for you. We have paired up the “approximations” so you can see what happens when you say both “and” as well as “minus.”

But first, some easy ones.

2:10 : “etNANE wuh AWshuruh”

إثنان و عشرة

(Literally, “two and ten.”)

8:05 : “tuhMAWneeuh wuh KHUMsuh”

تمانية و خمسة

(Literally, “eight and five.”)

As we said, for “minutes” within ten minutes of an exact hour, just say “hour and / minus minute.”

Now for the tricky ones:

3:15 : “tehLEHtuh waw ROHbaw”

تلاتة و ربع

(Literally, “three and fourth.”)

9:45 : “AWshuruh EHluh ROWbaw”

عشرة الا ربع

(Literally, “ten minus fourth”)

9:20 : “TEHsaw’aw wuh TEHlit”

(Literally, “nine and third.”)

11:40 : “EtNAWshrr EHluh TEHlitt”

اتناشر الا تلت

(Literally, “twelve minus third.”)

6:30 : “SEHtaw’ wuh NOSS”

(Literally, “six and half.”)

11:35 : “huhDAWshrr wuh NOSS wuh KHUMsuh

حداشر و نص و خمسة

(Literally, “eleven and half and five.”)

1:25 : “WAWhihduh wuh NOSS EHluh KHUMsuh”

وحدة و نص الا خمسة

(Literally, “one and half minus five.”)

So there you have it.

Go forth and recite those times like a boss!

Cultural Insight

If you plan on staying any amount of time in Cairo, you will soon come across one of the biggest issues for foreigners: Egyptian lack of punctuality.

We even wrote a post about it, along with a handy guide to get through the waiting:

Go check it out:

So don’t take “telling time” too seriously. It’s important to learn it, for sure, but rarely if ever will somebody actually show up at the time you agreed upon.

Even if you will be waiting half of your life in Cairo for Egyptian friends to show up, at least now they can’t use the excuse that you said the time wrong.

Good luck reading that clock. 🙂

…

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo