• The above Chinese words are used to express time. When any of the words used with a number, it indicates an exact time. For example, eight o’clock is 八時 “baat3 si4 ”; twenty five minutes is 二十五分 “ji6 sap6 ng5 fan1” and thirty seconds is 三十秒 “saam1 sap6 miu5”. Moreover, you can use all the above Chinese words 時、分、秒 at the same time if you want to mention a particular point of time. For example, 8:25:30 is 八時二十五分三十秒 “baat3 si4 ji6 sap6 ng5 fan1 saam1 sap6 miu5”.

• There are two ways of telling time in Cantonese in Hong Kong. The first way is to say both the unit of o’clock and minutes. For example, 8:55 is 八時五十五分 “baat3 si4 ng5 sap6 ng5 fan1”. It can be used both in the formal way and the informal way. The second way is an easier way and it will be used in the informal way only. In the second way, we do not have to say the unit of 分 . Instead, we just have to say the number in the clock to represent the minutes. For example, 8:55 is 八點十一 “baat3 dim2 sap6 jat1” For fifty-five minutes, the number in the clock is eleven. So we just have to say the number out instead of the minutes. But remember the above can only be applied to Hong Kong context.

• Similar to the money terms in Chinese, we will use 半 “bun3” to represent 30 minutes. Also, the number 二
  “ji6” has to change to 兩 “loeng5” when telling the time (o’clock) in the informal way.