Have you ever been confused when the clock showed a number like 14.24? If so, it means that you are not familiar with the 24-hour writing system. This form of presentation is commonly used in the military of the United States, Europe, and other countries in the world. Fortunately, changing the 24-hour format to 12-hour (standard) and vice versa is very easy to do. Just remember that you only need to change the hours, while the minutes remain the same.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Changing 24-Hour Format To 12-Hour
Step 1. Add 12 to the first hour of the day and put “AM” at the end
In 24-hour format, midnight is written as 00.00. So, for the first hour since midnight, write 12 and an “AM” marker to convert it to 12-hour format. For example, 00.13 in the 24-hour format is 12.13 AM in the 12-hour format.
Do you know?
The abbreviations "AM" and "PM" are of Latin origin. “AM” stands for “ante meridiem” which means “before noon” while PM stands for “post meridiem” which means “after noon.”
Step 2. Mark “AM” for the time between 1.00 and 11.59
Since the 24-hour format moves from 00.00 (midnight) to 1.00, you only need to add an “AM” marker for the time from 1.00 to 11.59. You can also remove leading zeros, for example 06.28 in 24-hour format is 6.28 AM in 12-hour format. It means:
- 01.00 = 1.00 AM
- 02.00 = 2.00 AM
- 03.00 = 3.00 AM
- 04.00 = 4.00 AM
- 05.00 = 5.00 AM
- 06.00 = 6.00 AM
- 07.00 = 7.00 AM
- 08.00 = 8.00 AM
- 09.00 = 9.00 AM
- 10.00 = 10.00 AM
- 11.00 = 11.00 AM
Step 3. Mark “PM” for 12.00 to 12.59
For an hour after 12 noon, simply write “PM” at the end to change the 24-hour format to 12 hours. For example, 12.45 becomes 12.45 PM.
Step 4. Subtract 12 for the time from 13:00 to 23:59, and include “PM”
For times after 13:00, change the 24-hour format to 12 hours by subtracting 12. Then, put "PM" at the end. For example, if you want to convert 14.36 to 12-hour format, subtract 12 to get 2.36, then enter "PM". You don't need to write down zeros in front of the hour in 12-hour format. Therefore:
- 13.00 = 1.00 PM
- 14.00 = 2.00 PM
- 15.00 = 3.00 PM
- 16.00 = 4.00 PM
- 17.00 = 5.00 PM
- 18.00 = 6.00 PM
- 19.00 = 7.00 PM
- 20.00 = 8.00 PM
- 21.00 = 9.00 PM
- 22.00 = 10.00 PM
- 23.00 = 11.00 PM
Method 2 of 2: Changing the 12 Hour Format to 24 Hours
Step 1. Use 00.00 to indicate midnight in 24-hour format
Instead of using “12.00” twice in a 24-hour period like the 12-hour format, the 24-hour format uses “00.00” to signify midnight. This means you only need to write down the minutes. For example, 12.30 AM becomes 00.30.
Do you know?
There is no 24.00 in the 24-hour format because after 23.00 (11.00 PM) is 00.00 (12.00 AM).
Step 2. Remove “AM” for hours between 1.00 and 11.59 AM
Changing the clock between midnight and broad daylight from 12-hour format to 24-hour is very simple. There just need to remove the marker "AM". If the hour digit is one digit, put a zero in front of it. So, for example, 6.00 AM is 06.00 and 10.15 AM is 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
Step 3. Leave the daytime clock as it is, keep removing "PM
"You don't need to change anything from 12.00 PM to 12.00 in 24-hour format, except to remove the "PM" tag. So, for example at 12:22 PM it would be 12:22.
Step 4. Add 12 for the hours between 1.00 and 11.59 PM and remove "PM"
For day, night, evening, and night, simply add 12 to the 12-hour format to convert it to 24-hour format. Also, remove "PM". That is, 2.57 PM becomes 14.57 and 11.02 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 thirty-five" or "thirty-five minutes past sixteen."
- Usually the zero in front of the one-digit hour is not mentioned. So, for example, 08:00 is referred to as "eight zero zero" or simply "eight o'clock". For midnight (00.00), it's usually just "zero zero o'clock".
- If there is no colon on the hour, just put "hour" at the beginning to indicate the 24-hour format. For example, say "1600" as "sixteen o'clock."
- God can because it's normal! If you have a digital device, there may be an option to change the time display from 12-hour format to 24-hour format to help you get used to reading the time.
- Another easy and quick method to convert these two formats is to subtract 2 from the second digit and 1 from the first digit for hours over 12 (example: 17.00 - 2 = 5.00 PM; 22.00 - 2 = 10.00 PM). If the result of the subtraction is a negative number, you must subtract the difference from the final result if you use a zero instead of a negative sign (fortunately, this only happens in two cases, 20.00 or 8.00 PM and 21.00 or 9.00 PM).).
