Telling Time & Daily Routines

We use time expressions and daily routine vocabulary to describe when and how often we do things in everyday life. These are essential for conversations about work, schedules, habits, and meetings.

Examples: I get up at 7 o'clock. / We start work at 9:30 a.m. / She goes to the gym twice a week.

Always use "at" for specific clock times:

• at 7 o'clock
• at 9:15
• at midnight / at noon
• at half past three

Key rules:

• "past" = minutes after the hour (1–30 minutes)
• "to" = minutes before the next hour (31–59 minutes)
• quarter = 15 minutes  ·  half = 30 minutes
• noon = 12:00 p.m.  ·  midnight = 12:00 a.m.

• In Turkey we often say times in the 24-hour style: 17:00, saat on yedi. In everyday English, people usually use the 12-hour clock with a.m. (before noon) and p.m. (after noon): 17:00 → five p.m. / five o'clock in the afternoon.
• Timetables, airports and the army use the 24-hour clock: seventeen hundred hours, or simply seventeen hundred.
• In informal British English, half four means 4:30 (half past four) — not 3:30 like Turkish "dört buçuk" might suggest. Be careful!

Note: We say "in the morning/afternoon/evening" but "at night" — this is a fixed expression!

All these verbs use Present Simple for daily routines:

I get up at 7. / She goes to bed at 11.

Position rules:

• Before the main verb: I always go to bed late.
• After "be" (am/is/are): She is usually tired.
• "Sometimes/usually" can also go at the start: Sometimes I work late.

• once a day / week / month / year — I go to the gym once a week.
• twice a week — She visits her parents twice a week.
• three times a month — We have meetings three times a month.
• every day / week / weekend — I check my email every day.
• on Mondays / weekends — We play tennis on Saturdays.