What is the time format in Germany? - Geographic Pedia (2025)

As a Cruise Director, one of the questions I often receive from passengers is about the time format in Germany. In written German, time is expressed almost exclusively in the 24-hour notation (00:00–23:59), using either a colon or a dot on the line as the separators between hours, minutes, and seconds – for example, 14:51 or 14.51. This format is widely used in many European countries, including Germany.

When it comes to dates, Germany follows the Gregorian calendar, with 12 months from January through December. When writing a date in German, the day of the month is listed first, followed by the numeral for the month, and then the year. For example, if you see 01.04.2019 in German, this date refers to April 1st, 2019, not January 4th.

The time format in Germany follows the ISO 8601-1:2019 standard. The basic format is T[hh][mm][ss], and the extended format is T[hh]:[mm]:[ss]. Earlier versions of the standard omitted the T, which represents time, in both formats. In this format, [hh] refers to a zero-padded hour between 00 and 24, and [mm] refers to a zero-padded minute between 00 and 59.

In the 24-hour time notation, midnight is represented as 00:00 or 0:00, marking the beginning of the day. The last minute of the day is denoted as 23:59. It is important to note that midnight can be referred to as both 24:00 and 00:00 in different contexts. For example, “Tuesday at 24:00” and “Wednesday at 00:00” mean exactly the same time.

To further clarify the time format, it is worth noting that in 24-hour (military) time, 12:00 AM is equal to 0000 and is read as “0 hundred hours”. The hours between 12:00 AM and noon on the 12-hour clock are represented as 0000hrs to 1200hrs in the 24-hour clock.

Now let’s address some additional frequently asked questions related to time format in Europe:

1. What is the time format in Europe?
Most non-English speaking countries, including the whole of Europe, officially use the 24-hour clock in their writing. This means that they write 14:30 instead of 2:30 PM. However, the time before the 12th hour is still written the same way.

2. How do they write dates in Europe?
Most of Europe uses the DD/MM/YY format for writing dates. However, Japan uses the YY/MM/DD format. The separators used can be slashes, dashes, or periods.

3. How do Germans format numbers?
In Germany, the DIN 1333 standard specifies that a space should be used as a separator starting at five digits. For example, a four-digit number could be shown as 1234, but a five-digit number should be shown as 12 345.

4. How do you read time in German?
To tell the time in German on the hour, you say “Es ist (hour) Uhr.” To tell the time using hours and minutes, you say “Es ist (hour) Uhr + (minutes).” The word “nach” is used to indicate minutes after the hour, while “vor” is used to indicate minutes before the hour.

5. How does German time work?
German time follows a system where the numbers from 0 to 12 are used for the first twelve hours of the day, while counting from 13 to 24 represents the second half. This eliminates the need for AM and PM designations. For example, 1:07 PM would be represented as 13:07 and pronounced as “Dreizehn Uhr sieben.”

6. Is Germany in the same time as the UK?
Germany is one hour ahead of the UK. Both countries observe daylight saving time (DST), but the transitions occur simultaneously at 1:00 AM in the UK and 2:00 AM in Germany. Germany follows the Central European Timezone (CET), which is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) used in the UK.

7. Does Germany use the 24-hour clock?
Yes, Germans use the 24-hour clock not only in official contexts, but also in casual conversations. It is considered a standard practice, and using the 12-hour clock may indicate that someone is not a native of Germany, even if they are speaking German.

8. What are the two types of time format?
The two ways of telling time are the 12-hour clock and the 24-hour clock. The 12-hour clock runs from 1 AM to 12 noon, and then from 1 PM to 12 midnight. On the other hand, the 24-hour clock uses the numbers 00:00 to 23:59, with midnight represented as 00:00.

In conclusion, Germany follows the 24-hour time format using either a colon or a dot as separators. This format is widely used in many European countries. When writing dates, the day of the month is listed first, followed by the numeral for the month and then the year. Understanding these time and date formats can be helpful when traveling to or communicating with people from Germany or other European countries.

What is the time format in Germany? - Geographic Pedia (2025)
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