~6 min · 11 exercises

Part of the unit “What time: telling time and meetings”

Казивање времена

telling-time

Overview

Ask the time with Колико је сати? (What time is it?) or Који је сат? The answer is a number plus the noun сат (o'clock/hour), which follows the same 1 / 2–4 / 5+ counting rule as numbers-a1.

This lesson covers telling the hour, its quirky verb, common ways to say the minutes, and у + accusative for saying at a given time.

Telling the hour

The count noun сат follows the same 1 / 2–4 / 5+ pattern as numbers-a1 - see the exact forms and verbs in the table below.

That је/су switch is the one detail worth memorizing on purpose: 2–4 pairs with plural су, while 1 and 5+ both pair with singular је - an asymmetry that has nothing to do with real-world plurality.

Minutes, half and quarter hours

Minutes past the hour are added with и (and): пет и десет (5:10), пет и петнаест or пет и четврт (5:15, четврт = quarter).

Пола (half) needs care: пола шест means 5:30, not 6:30 - it points at the UPCOMING hour, literally half [of the way to] six. Четврт до (quarter to) works the same way: четврт до шест means 5:45.

Special cases

To say at a time, use у + accusative: Долазим у пет сати. (I'm arriving at five o'clock.) The question form is a fixed phrase: У колико сати долазиш? (What time are you arriving?).

Подне (noon) and поноћ (midnight) are fixed words on their own, not a number + сат: Сада је подне. (It's noon now.) Formal schedules (trains, TV listings) commonly switch to the 24-hour clock, e.g. у 17 и 30.

Tables

„Сат“ - 1, 2–4, 5+ (the same rule as the numerals)
Number	Verb	Form of the noun „сат“	Example
1	је	сат	Један је сат.
2–4	су	сата	Два су сата.
5+	је	сати	Пет је сати.

Examples

Колико је сати?

What time is it?

The standard way to ask the time.

Један је сат.

It's one o'clock.

1 → је + сат, same rule as numbers-a1.

Два су сата.

It's two o'clock.

2–4 → су + сата, same count form as два стола.

Пет је сати.

It's five o'clock.

5+ → је (not су) + сати, the genitive-plural-based form.

Пола шест је.

It's half past five.

пола + the NEXT hour: пола шест is 5:30, not 6:30.

Долазим у пет сати.

I'm arriving at five o'clock.

у + accusative time expression for at.

У колико сати долазиш?

What time are you arriving?

у колико сати is the fixed question phrase for at what time.

Сада је четврт до шест.

It's a quarter to six.

четврт до + the upcoming hour.

Compared with…

British informal English also says half five for 5:30, but that phrase points at the CURRENT hour (half past five) - the opposite of Serbian пола шест, which points at the UPCOMING hour (six). Same-looking construction, opposite meaning: a genuine false-friend trap.

Serbian

Пола шест је.

half five (English) and пола шест (Serbian) both mean 5:30, but count from opposite hours.

English

It's half past five.

Common mistakes

Wrong

Два је сата.

Right

Два су сата.

2–4 count phrases pair with the plural verb су, not је.

Wrong

Пет су сати.

Right

Пет је сати.

5+ pairs with singular је, even though the meaning is plural - the mirror image of the 2–4 rule.

Wrong

Долазим у пет сата.

Right

Долазим у пет сати.

Accusative time expressions after у use the same сат/сата/сати forms as telling time - 5+ needs сати, not the 2–4 form сата.

Wrong

Колико је сат?

Right

Колико је сати?

The fixed question phrase uses the genitive-plural-shaped сати, not the bare dictionary form сат.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

Telling time reuses the exact 1 / 2–4 / 5+ rule from numbers-a1, just for the one noun сат - if you already know два стола and пет столова, you already know два сата and пет сати.
Пола always points at the NEXT hour, not the current one - пола шест is 5:30, not 6:30; think of it as half of the way to six.
Everyday speech uses a 12-hour cycle like English, with context or ујутру/увече (morning/evening) disambiguating; formal schedules use the 24-hour clock instead.

Exceptions

5+ pairs with singular је even though it's semantically plural, while 2–4 pairs with plural су - the reverse of what the meaning suggests, but it's the same 1/2–4/5+ split as numbers-a1.
Подне (noon) and поноћ (midnight) are told as fixed words, not as a number + сат at all: „Сада је подне.“
In quick colloquial speech, сат is sometimes dropped once the topic of time is already established: „Колико је? - Пет.“ - not used in careful or written speech.

Summary

Telling time reuses the numbers-a1 count-noun rule for сат: „Један је сат.“ (1), „Два су сата.“ (2–4, note the plural verb су), „Пет је сати.“ (5+, back to singular је). Minutes are added with и; пола and четврт до point at the upcoming hour, not the current one. У + accusative says at a time. English's half five looks similar to пола шест but points the opposite way.