Buzz
If you're confused when seeing the time displayed as 14:24, you may not be accustomed to the 24-hour time format. This system is commonly used in the U.S. military, across Europe, and many other places worldwide. Fortunately, converting from the 24-hour format to the 12-hour (or standard) format and vice versa is quite simple. All you need to do is adjust the hour while keeping the minutes the same.
Steps
Converting Time from 24-Hour to 12-Hour Format
Add 12 to the hour for times in the morning and append “AM” (morning). In the 24-hour time format, midnight is displayed as 00:00. Therefore, for midnight, you add 12 and append “AM” to convert it to the 12-hour format. This means 00:13 in 24-hour time becomes 12:13 AM (morning) in the 12-hour format.
Did you know?
The abbreviations “AM” and “PM” in English have Latin origins. “AM” stands for “ante meridiem,” meaning “before midday,” while “PM” stands for “post meridiem,” meaning “after midday.”
Append “AM” (morning) to times between 1:00 and 11:59. Since the 24-hour time format begins at 00:00 (midnight) and transitions to 1:00, you simply add “AM” to times from 1:00 to 11:59. You can also drop the leading zeros. For instance, 06:28 in the 24-hour format becomes 6:28 AM in the 12-hour format. This means:
- 01:00 = 1:00 AM (morning)
- 02:00 = 2:00 AM (morning)
- 03:00 = 3:00 AM (morning)
- 04:00 = 4:00 AM (morning)
- 05:00 = 5:00 AM (morning)
- 06:00 = 6:00 AM (morning)
- 07:00 = 7:00 AM (morning)
- 08:00 = 8:00 AM (morning)
- 09:00 = 9:00 AM (morning)
- 10:00 = 10:00 AM (morning)
- 11:00 = 11:00 AM (morning)
Append “PM” (noon/afternoon/evening/night) to times between 12:00 and 12:59. For times after midday, simply add “PM” to the 24-hour time format to convert it to the 12-hour format. For example, 12:45 becomes 12:45 PM (noon).
Subtract 12 for times between 13:00 and 23:59, then add “PM”. For post-noon times, simply subtract 12 from the 24-hour time and add “PM.” For example, to convert 14:36 to the 12-hour format, subtract 12 from the hour, resulting in 2:36, then add “PM” (afternoon). You do not need to add leading zeros for single-digit 12-hour times. Thus:
- 13:00 = 1:00 PM (afternoon)
- 14:00 = 2:00 PM (afternoon)
- 15:00 = 3:00 PM (afternoon)
- 16:00 = 4:00 PM (afternoon)
- 17:00 = 5:00 PM (afternoon)
- 18:00 = 6:00 PM (evening)
- 19:00 = 7:00 PM (evening)
- 20:00 = 8:00 PM (evening)
- 21:00 = 9:00 PM (night)
- 22:00 = 10:00 PM (night)
- 23:00 = 11:00 PM (night)
Converting Time from 12-Hour to 24-Hour Format
Use 00:00 for midnight in the 24-hour format. Instead of using “12:00” twice as in the 12-hour format, the 24-hour format uses “00:00” to represent midnight. This means you only need to keep the minutes unchanged when converting the time. For example, 12:30 AM becomes 00:30.
Did you know?
There is no 24:00 in the 24-hour format because the time shifts from 23:00 (11:00 PM) to 00:00 (12:00 AM).
Remove “AM” (morning) from times between 1:00 and 11:59 AM. Converting time from midnight to noon from the 12-hour format to the 24-hour format is very simple. Just drop the “AM.” If the time has a single digit, you add a leading zero. For instance, 6:00 AM becomes 06:00, and 10:15 AM becomes 10:15. Therefore:
- 1:00 AM = 01:00
- 2:00 AM = 02:00
- 3:00 AM = 03:00
- 4:00 AM = 04:00
- 5:00 AM = 05:00
- 6:00 AM = 06:00
- 7:00 AM = 07:00
- 8:00 AM = 08:00
- 9:00 AM = 09:00
- 10:00 AM = 10:00
- 11:00 AM = 11:00
Keep noon time the same but drop the “PM.” You only need to remove the “PM” when converting 12:00 PM to 12:00 in the 24-hour format. For example, 12:22 PM becomes 12:22.
Add 12 to times between 1:00 and 11:59 PM and remove “PM.” For afternoon, evening, and night times, simply add 12 to the time in the 12-hour format to convert it to the 24-hour format. Additionally, remove the “PM.” This means 2:57 PM becomes 14:57, and 11:02 PM becomes 23:02. Therefore:
- 1:00 PM = 13:00
- 2:00 PM = 14:00
- 3:00 PM = 15:00
- 4:00 PM = 16:00
- 5:00 PM = 17:00
- 6:00 PM = 18:00
- 7:00 PM = 19:00
- 8:00 PM = 20:00
- 9:00 PM = 21:00
- 10:00 PM = 22:00
- 11:00 PM = 23:00
Tips
- Note that "16:35" is read as sixteen hours and thirty-five minutes.
- In English, the number 0 before the hour can be pronounced as "zero" or "oh," depending on the speaker's preference. For example, 08:00 can be read as “oh-eight-hundred” or “zero-eight-hundred.” However, for exact hours or midnight (00:00), both zeros are usually not pronounced.
- If the time is written without colons, you can add “hours” after the time to indicate military time. For example, “1600” would be read as “sixteen hundred hours” (16:00) in English.
- Practice makes perfect! Some devices allow you to switch from the 12-hour format to the 24-hour format to help you become more familiar with reading military time.
- Another simple and quick method to convert is to subtract 2 from the second digit of the hour and subtract 1 from the first digit if the hour is greater than 12 (for example, 17:00 - 2 = 5:00 PM; 22:00 - 2 = 10:00 PM). If the result is a negative number, you need to "borrow" from the first digit, subtract the borrowed value from it, and then subtract 1 (fortunately, this only happens with 20:00 or 8:00 PM and 21:00 or 9:00 PM).
