Telling the time in Swedish: klockan, kvart, and the halv trap
How to ask and say the time in Swedish. Why halv tre means half past two, how kvart works, and how Swedes write and say clock times.
Swedish clock time is mostly friendly, with one famous trap at the half hour: halv tre does not mean half past three. It means half past two, because Swedish counts halfway toward the coming hour. Miss this and you will be an hour late to everything, so let's start there.
The halv trap
Halv tre is literally "half three", and it means 2:30: halfway to three. The Swedish logic is "half of the way to three o'clock has been reached".
- halv ett = 12:30
- halv tre = 2:30
- halv åtta = 7:30
German, Dutch and the other Scandinavian languages do the same thing, so some learners arrive with this pre-installed. If English is your reference, drill it until it stops feeling wrong: halv plus the next hour.
Asking and answering
- Vad är klockan? What time is it? (Also common: Hur mycket är klockan?)
- Klockan är tre. It's three o'clock. (In speech also Den är tre.)
Klockan is literally "the clock", and it doubles as the word for "at" in schedules: Vi ses klockan sju, see you at seven. In writing you'll see it abbreviated: kl. 7.
Quarters and minutes
- kvart över tre = 3:15 (quarter past three)
- kvart i fyra = 3:45 (quarter to four)
- fem över tre = 3:05
- tio i tre = 2:50
Över means past, i means to. So far, exactly like English. Around the half hour, though, Swedish keeps thinking in terms of halv:
- 3:25 = fem i halv fyra (five to half four)
- 3:35 = fem över halv fyra (five past half four)
Those two constructions are completely normal spoken Swedish, not clever exceptions. For 3:20 and 3:40 you'll usually hear plain tjugo över tre and tjugo i fyra.
If this feels like a lot: Swedes will always understand the simple digital style, tre och tjugofem (three twenty-five). Say it that way while the traditional forms settle in, and keep listening.
Morning or evening?
Sweden uses the 24-hour clock in writing: timetables, opening hours and invitations say 14.30, written with a period, not a colon. In speech, people mostly use the 12-hour forms and add a part of the day when it matters:
- sju på morgonen = seven in the morning
- två på eftermiddagen = two in the afternoon
- åtta på kvällen = eight in the evening
Hear it
Five lines of everyday clock talk.
Swedish
Vad är klockan?
Klockan är halv tre.
Vi ses kvart över sju.
Tåget går tio i fem.
Jag börjar klockan åtta på morgonen.
English
What time is it?
It's half past two.
See you at quarter past seven.
The train leaves at ten to five.
I start at eight in the morning.