Quarter past and quarter to

What is quarter past?

When the minute hand of a clock (the longer hand) moves from 12 and travels a quarter of the way around the clock to point at the 3, it means it’s quarter past the hour.

The hour hand (the shorter hand) also moves a little. When it’s quarter past, you can see the hour hand is just past the number.

So, if the minute hand points to 3 and the hour hand is a little past 8, you can say it’s quarter past 8.

What is quarter to?

When the minute hand moves from 12 and travels three-quarters of the way around to point at the 9, it means it’s quarter to the next hour.

The hour hand moves too and you can see it’s almost at the next number.

For example, if the minute hand is at 9 and the hour hand is just before 9, you can say it’s quarter to 9.

Quiz: Quarter past and quarter to

Test out your knowledge of reading time with this quiz, then read on to complete the page.

Quarter past the hour

Quarter past means 15 minutes after the hour.

Each number on the clock is worth 5 minutes, so when the minute hand moves from one number to the next, 5 minutes have passed.

When the minute hand points to the 3, 3 lots of 5 minutes have passed. That’s 15 minutes or a quarter of an hour.

For example, quarter past 2 means it’s 15 minutes after 2 o’clock, or 2:15.

This clock shows the time is quarter past 2.

Quarter past 2 can also be described as 15 minutes past 2.

Quarter to the hour

Quarter to means it’s 15 minutes before the next hour.

When the minute hand points to the 9, it shows there’s a quarter of the hour left.

For example, quarter to 6 means it’s 15 minutes before 6 o’clock, or 5:45.

This clock reads quarter to 6.

Quarter to can also be described as15 minutes to 6.