In Vietnamese, phút (“minute”) is used to tell the time with details about minutes.
Minutes past the hour
Place the number of minutes plus phút after giờ, similar to in English.
Structure
number of hours + giờ + number of minutes + phút
In everyday conversation, phút is usually omitted if the number of minutes is greater than or equal to ten.
number of hours + giờ + number of minutes
Examples
- 3 giờ 1 phútone past three (3:01)
- 7 giờ 20twenty past seven (7:20)
- 15 giờ 45forty-five past fifteen (15:45)
Minutes to the hour
Place kém after giờ in the structure above to express minutes to the hour.
Structure
number of hours + giờ + kém + number of minutes + phút
Similarly, in everyday conversation, phút is usually omitted if the number of minutes is greater than or equal to ten.
number of hours + giờ + kém + number of minutes
Examples
- 3 giờ kém 1 phútone to three (2:59)
- 7 giờ kém 20twenty to seven (6:40)
- 15 giờ kém 15fifteen to fifteen (14:45)
Duration
The same structure is used to express duration in Vietnamese. To be even more detailed, the word for “second” is giây. Durations follow the big-to-small order hour-minute-second.
Structure
number of hours + tiếng + number of minutes + phút + number of seconds + giây
To express “and a half”, use rưỡi.
Examples
- 1 tiếng 45 phút1 hour and 45 minutes
- 3 phút 20 giây3 minutes and 20 seconds
- 1 phút rưỡi1 and a half minutes