kittydesade | (no subject) (Reply)

The following methods are used to express clock time.

Wie viel Uhr ist es?
Wie spät ist es?

Note that German uses a period instead of a colon in time expressions. German has two ways to indicate clock time. With a few exceptions, they parallel the two ways English indicates clock time.

Es ist Viertel nach acht. It is a quarter past eight.
Es ist acht Uhr fünfzehn. It is eight-fifteen.

In conversational German, method 1 is used to indicate time. Notice that the -s of eins is dropped before the word Uhr. The expresson with halb indicates the hour to come, not the preceeding hour: halb zwei - 1.30 Uhr.

Mein Zug fahrt sieben Uhr dreißig (7.30). My train leaves at 7:30 am.
Das Konzert beginnt uneunzehn Uhr dreißig (19.30). The concert begins at 7:30 PM.

In official time, such as train and plane schedules and concerts, method 2 is used, along with twenty-four hour time.

Um wie viel Uhr spielen wir Tennis? At what time are we playing tennis?
Um halb neun. At 8:30.

Wie viel Uhr ist es?
Es ist Viertel nach neun/neun Uhr fünfzehn.
Es ist zwanzig minuten nach sieben/sieben Uhr zwanzig.
Es ist zwanzig vor dreiundzwanzig/zweiundzwanzig Uhr vierzig.
Es ist fünf vor null?/dreiundzwanzig Uhr fünfundfünfzig.
Es ist zehn vor drei/zwei Uhr fünfzig.
Es ist acht Uhr.

Leftover mango lamb curry from the local restaurant WHICH WAS AWESOME. Just in case you were wondering. Basmati rice from home, mandarin orange slices from a pre-packaged supermarket orange cup and carrot sticks and ranch dip for merienda. The empty cup I couldn't think of anything for, and was eventually filled with chocolate squares from my Maya Gold Green & Black's chocolate bar when I got to work. Protip: Green & Black's is organic chocolate, with ingredients you can actually pronounce, and is made of awesome.

Leftover chicken stir fry, which wasn't that awesome the first time around and needed something, but it also needs to be eaten, so! What you can't see under there is more basmati rice. I may like basmati rice a lot. Also, apparently half a cup of basmati rice makes enough for two bentos, which is very, very cool. The Green & Black's (still Maya Gold) actually made it into the cup this time! More carrots and dip, and this time there's melon to go with lunch.

I'm discovering the really awesome thing about bento is that I can eat my main meal and my fruit and my dessert, and feel full. I used to, when I brought leftovers in, eat a lot more than that, but now I can pretty much just eat that and even on a fucking insane day of work, I didn't snack. I didn't run to the candy basket. I didn't nick pieces of challah or find out what tasty cookie the Lurking Bandit brought in from home today. I just drank a litre and a half of water and kept going. And then I had merienda.

(Merienda, for those of you who don't remember or in case I didn't explain before, is a Spanish word roughly meaning afternoon snack. It's like the kind of snack you give kindergarteners. I don't think there actually is a specific equivalent word in English like breakfast, lunch, etc, unless you count tea, but that's what it is.)

I do need to start putting something in there for second breakfast, some sort of fruit or something. That's how I've been eating for a while, ideally five meals a day, cereal or toast or something small first thing in the morning, second breakfast I can carry around with me when I get to work while I see what's what. Lunch, merienda, and then the biggest (relatively speaking) meal of the day is dinner. It'd be awesome if I can do all three of the at-work meals in my bento, but we'll see!

Also,
Closed!