Half Past

As we know, a minute hand completes one round of a clock in 60 minutes i.e. in one hour. In 30 minutes or half an hour, the minute hand completes only half of the round. This implies that a minute hand takes 30 minutes to complete half a round of the full face of the clock which is exactly half of the time taken by a minute hand to complete 1 complete round of a clock. So, we can say half an hour is equal to 30 minutes.

But, when it is 30 minutes past the hour, we say ‘ half past’ the hour, In other words, half past means half past the hour. For example, when it is 1: 30, we say half past 1. Similarly, when it is 2: 30 or 3: 30, we say half-past 2 or half past 3 respectively.

What is Half Past The Hour?

Half-past the hour means 30 minutes past the hour or 30 minutes after a stated time. For example, the meeting begins at half-past 5. It means the meeting began at 5:30. 

Both half past 5 and 5: 30 mean the same thing.

How to Read Half Past The Hour?

To read the half-past time, look at the minute hand first. If the minute hand is pointing at 6, we can say it is half past the hour. 

Further, look at the hour hand and also look at the two numbers on the clock face that this hand is in between.  

This time is half past the smaller of these two numbers.

Exception - The exception to this rule is when the hour hand is between 12 and 1, the time is 12:30 or half past 12.

As there are 60 minutes in an hour, we can also read the half-past time as 30 minutes past.

Example:

Here is an example of telling a time in half past the hour.

In the given clock, we can see the minute hand is pointing at 6, so we can say the time is half past the hour.

Also, we can see that the hour  hand is between 2 and 3

Here, 2 is smaller than 3, and so, we can say that the time is half past 2.

Half past 2 can also be written as 2: 30 or 30 minutes past 2.

10 Past Half

10 past half means 30 minutes after 10.

Let us understand 10 past half with the help of the clock given below.

In the given clock, we can see an hour hand is halfway between the 10 and 11. The minute hand is at 6.  Accordingly,  the time here is 10: 30 or 30 minutes after 10 or half past 10.

Half Past 12

Half past 12 is a short way of telling 30 minutes after 12:00.

Let us understand the half past 12 with the help of the clock given below.

In the given clock, we can see an hour hand is halfway between the 12 and 1. The minute hand is at 6.  Accordingly,  the time here is 12: 30 or 30 minutes after 12 or half past 12.

Solved Examples

1. What Time Does the Following Clock Show?

Solution:

In the given clock, the minute hand is pointing at 6. Hence, it can be said that the time is half past the hour.

Also, we can see that the hour hand is between 11 and 12.

Here, 11 is smaller than 12. Therefore, it states that the time is half past 11.

Half past 2 can also be written as 11: 30 or 30 minutes past 11.

2. What Time Does the Following Clock Show?

Solutions:

In the given clock, we can see an hour hand is pointing at 6. The minute hand is at 1 Accordingly, the time here is 06: 05 or 5 minutes after 6 or 5 past 6.