When making plans, appointments, and travel arrangements in Arabic speaking countries, you need to be able to state days and tell the time in Arabic. We’ve already posted an article about days in Arabic, so let’s cover the time words as well. 
First, however, let’s get familiar with some vocabulary on the subject of time.


Here are our examples:

EnglishTransliterationArabic
Clock in ArabicSaa’at haa’itساعة حائط
Time in ArabicWaqtوقت
Minute in ArabicDaqeeqahدقيقة
Nighttime in ArabicWaqt illaylوقت الليل
Daytime in ArabicAnnahaarالنهار
Morning in ArabicSabaahصباح
Noon in ArabicWaqt adhaheeraوقت الظهيرة
Afternoon in ArabicBa’d adhuhurبعد الظهر
Sunset in ArabicAl maghribالمغرب
Sunrise in ArabicShurooq a’shamsشروق الشمس
Day in ArabicYaumيوم
Night in ArabicLaylليل
Evening in ArabicMasaa’مساء
Half in ArabicNisfنصف
Quarter in ArabicRuba’ربع

Also, depending on which Arab country you’re in or planning to visit, you may see either the 12-hour clock being used or the 24-hour clock, or sometimes both. Anyway, what you should know is that:

AM in Arabic is translated as sabaahan / صباحا
PM in Arabic is translated as masaa’n / مساءً

If you would like to ask someone What time is it in Arabic, you should either say:

kam assaa’ah?كم الساعةWhat time is it?
kam assaa’ah al’aan?كم الساعة الآنWhat time is it now?

We recommend the second version for the following reason: the word kam (كم) in Arabic is often used in interrogative phrases to ask about the price of something. In this case, kami as-sa’ah? might easily be understood as if you were asking about the price of the watch itself (“How much is the watch?”). The additional word al’aan ( الآن), which means “now” in English, makes it clear to the person you are referring to the current time and not the price of his or her watch.

Telling the time in Arabic is very easy as Arabs use ordinal numbers with hours, except one o’clock, as follows:

EnglishTransliterationArabic
One o’clock in
Arabic		assaa’ah alwaahidahالساعة الواحدة
Two o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah athaaniyahالساعة الثانية
Three o’clock in 
Arabic		assaas’ah athaalithahالساعة الثالثة
Four o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah arraabi’ahالساعة الرابعة
Five o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah alkhaamisahالساعة الخامسة
Six o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah assaadisahالساعة السادسة
Seven o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah assaabi’ahالساعة السابعة
Eight o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah athaaminahالساعة الثامنة
Nine o’clock in 
Arabic		assaa’ah attaasi’ahالساعة التاسعة
Ten o’clock in
Arabic		assaa’ah al’aashirahالساعة العاشرة
Eleven o’clock in
Arabic		assaa’ah alhaadiyah ‘ashraالساعة الحادية عشرة
Twelve o’clock in
Arabic		assaa’ah athaaniyah ‘ashraالساعة الثانية عشرة



To say “past” in Arabic, natives use و /wa/ “and” which comes after the hour, so “half past two” in Arabic would literally be “two o’clock and a half” / الساعة الثانية والنصف

PastTransliterationو / wa
Five past in Arabicwa khamsa daqaa’iqوخمس دقائق
Ten past in Arabicwa ‘ashr daqaa’iqوعشر دقائق
Quarter past in Arabicwa arrub’والربع
Twenty past in Arabicwa athulthوالثلث
Half past in Arabicwa annisfوالنصف



To say “to”, Arabs use إلا / illa which comes after the hour, so “quarter to three” in Arabic would literally be “three o’clock less a quarter” / الساعة الثالثة إلا الربع

ToTransliterationإلا / illa
Five to in Arabicilla khams daqaa’iqإلا خمس دقائق
Ten to in Arabicilla ‘ashr daqaa’iqإلا عشر دقائق
Quarter to in Arabicilla arrub’إلا الربع
Twenty to in Arabicilla athulthإلا الثلث



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