So thats the simple bit, now for the more confusing. 6:30 is said "six thirty" or more often "half passed six" in England. Even more often though the 'passed' is ommited and we just say "half six". This is all well and good however in Norway they do the opposite. 6:30 would be said "halv syv" or translated "half seven". As the word half is said to mean half way towards. This can cause a lot of complications, around my friends and family over here our rule is whichever language you say it in, you follow their rules. So if its 8:30 we can either say "half eight" or "halv ni". For anyone visiting Norway, always double check when someone says it to you, dont assume because they are talking English they are using the English system. I have had this problem more than once.
So they are the most common issues but for interests sake I will continue to explain the crazy Norwegian system as it confuses me greatly. 8:20, simply, "eight twenty" or "twenty past eight" in English yes? In Norwegian its "ti på halv ni" which translates as "ten to half nine". This is rather confusing if you ask me and made even more so when I first hear it as "på"typically translates as "on". So direcetly translated in my head I hear "ten on half nine". So first you must remember its half to nine not half past and then remember that for some stupid reason on in this instance means "towards" and not "on top of" which is how I would naturally inturprit itand therefore think they menat passed. I hope you are following this?
When you get used to it it really isnt all that mental but you really need a heads up or you can become very confused. Often to be safe I say it very clearly for example 6:30 I say "six thirty" and things like this as a safe way to avoid confusion. The theory when simplified is in a way actually very simple, the English clock has one divide line at half passed, everything upto that is refered to as "passed", everything after it as "to". Norwegian time telling has two dividing lines, as shown in the picture below which hopefully makes the whole thing quite simple.
So I hope after deliberatly confusing you so you understand slightly what I went through I hope it all makes a lot more sense. It is now "ti over halv fem"/"ten over half five" (16.40) and I must get be off.
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