TIME AND DATE

TELLING TIME

When telling time in swahili, remember to add/subtract six hours. That is, swahili time is told by using the opposite number on the clock such that time is told in terms of hours of sunlight. Rather than "it is seven a.m." you are basically saying, "it is the first hour of the morning."​



The hour is followed by the general time of day:

 

 

 

 

 

 



In general, time is expressed as the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

If you are expressing a time that involves minutes past the hour (less than 30), you also tell the number of minutes:

 



If you are expressing a quarter hour, the term robo or "quarter" is used:

 



If you are expressing half past the hour, the term nusu or "half" is used:

 



​

If you are expressing a time that involves minutes to the hour (or more than 30 minutes past), you tell the time in terms of a subtraction of minutes from the following hour:

 





​

​



EXPRESSING DATES



THE DAYS OF THE WEEK

















THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR



























Note: months of the year can also be expressed numerically (e.g. mwezi wa kwanza, mwezi wa pili, mwezi wa tatu, mwezi wa nne, etc.)

​







Note: the above expressions can also be used with days and years, just be sure to re-conjugate according to noun class



When writing out the date, use the format Day of the Week-Date-Month-Year:

 



When writing the day and month, use the format terehe-Day-Month (most often expressed in ordinals rather than by name):

 



When writing the day, month, and year, use the format terehe-Day-Month-Year (again, ordinals are most-often used):

​

​

​Tarehe ishirini na nane, mwezi wa kumi, mwaka elfu mbili kumi na mbili.