Telling Time

There are a number of ways of telling time in Tagalog. Tagalog speakers can choose to use English numbers, Spanish numbers, or native Tagalog numbers when telling time. Numbers borrowed from Spanish are the most widely used forms in expressing time of day. Among young people, English numbers appear to be the preference. Only in very formal situations, where Tagalog is the specified language of choice (e.g., radio/TV shows, conferences, formal invitations), are Tagalog numbers employed in telling time.
This section presents the common ways of telling time using the different number systems mentioned here.
In order to tell whether a time is in the morning (am) or evening (pm) the following phrases may be added. They are placed immediately after the number (ala una ng hapon).
       ng umaga          ng tanghali             ng hapon                      ng gabi
in the morning (am)         at noon         in the afternoon (pm)   in the evening/atnight (pm).
The use of these phrases is necessary when using the Tagalog numbers.

SPANISH

TAGALOG