Making Appointments in English

1. Telling the Time

There are two common ways of telling the time.

1) Say the hour first and then the minutes. (Hour + Minutes)

 6:25 - It's six twenty-five

 8:05 - It's eight O-five (the O is said like the letter O)
 9:11 - It's nine eleven
 2:34 - It's two thirty-four

2) Say the minutes first and then the hour. (Minutes + PAST / TO + Hour)
For minutes 1-30 we use PAST after the minutes.
For minutes 31-59 we use TO after the minutes.

 2:35 - It's twenty-five to three

 11:20 - It's twenty past eleven
 4:18 - It's eighteen past four
 8:51 - It's nine to nine
 2:59 - It's one to three

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When it is 15 minutes past the hour we normally say: (a) quarter past

 7:15 - It's (a) quarter past seven

When it is 15 minutes before the hour we normally say: a quarter to

 12:45 - It's (a) quarter to one

When it is 30 minutes past the hour we normally say: half past

 3:30 - It's half past three (but we can also say three-thirty

O'clock
We use o'clock when there are NO minutes.

 10:00 - It's ten o'clock

 5:00 - It's five o'clock
 1:00 - It's one o'clock

Sometimes it is written as 9 o'clock (the number + o'clock)

12:00
For 12:00 there are four expressions in English.

 twelve o'clock
 midday = noon
 midnight

Asking for the Time

The common question forms we use to ask for the time right now are:

 What time is it?

 What is the time?

A more polite way to ask for the time, especially from a stranger is:

 Could you tell me the time please?

The common question forms we use to ask at what time a specific event will happen are:
What time...?
When...?

 What time does the flight to New York leave?

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  When does the bus arrive from London?
 When does the concert begin?

Giving the Time

We use It is or It's to respond to the questions that ask for the time right now.

 It is half past five (5:30).

 It's ten to twelve (11:50)

We use the structure AT + time when giving the time of a specific event.

 The bus arrives at midday (12:00).

 The flight leaves at a quarter to two (1:45).
 The concert begins at ten o'clock. (10:00)

We can also use subject pronouns in these responses.

 It arrives at midday (12:00).

 It leaves at a quarter to two (1:45).
 It begins at ten o'clock. (10:00)

AM vs. PM
We don't normally use the 24-hour clock in English.
We use a.m. (am) for the morning and p.m. (pm) for the afternoon and night.
3am = Three o'clock in the morning.
3pm = Three o'clock in the afternoon.

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2. Telling Dates

The number of the day

For dates in spoken English, we always use ordinal numbers, i.e. Fourth of July, not Four of
July.
Ordinal numbers = Numbers that show the order or sequence. Normally a -TH appears at the
end of the number. e.g. seven … seventh
However the ordinal numbers that are highlighted in red in the chart below are irregular or
have a slight change in spelling. See our complete lesson about Ordinal Numbers in English.

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In spoken English we ALWAYS use ordinal numbers for dates. However in written
English you may write a normal (cardinal) number without the -TH or -ST etc. after it. Even
if it is not written, the ordinal number is still said in spoken English. In United States it is
NOT common to put the -th after the number in written English.
Order of Days and Months when saying the date

There are two ways of giving the date in English:

Month + Day: December 25 – used in United States.* OR

Day + Month: 25th December – used in the rest of the world.
* The exception is with the name of the US celebration the Fourth of July.
How to say the YEARS in English

Years are normally divided into two parts; the first two digits and the last two digits. **

2017 is divided into 20 and 17 so you would say twenty seventeen.

 1982 = nineteen eighty-two
 1999 = nineteen ninety-nine
 2017 = twenty seventeen
 2021 = twenty twenty-one

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** For the exceptions, see our entire lesson about How to say the YEAR in English.
Writing the date in English

Be careful when writing the dates using only numbers.

For example, Christmas day is written:

 12 / 25 / 17 in United States (the month is first) and

 25 / 12 / 17 in the rest of the world (the day is first).
So what day is this? 3/4/17
It depends on the country. It can be:

March fourth, twenty seventeen (in United States) OR

The third of April, twenty seventeen (in the rest of the world)
There’s a big difference, isn’t there!

To avoid confusion, when writing an email or any other written form of English, it is best to
write the month as its name (January, February, etc.) or its abbreviation (Jan. Feb. etc.) and
NOT as its number.

And remember, the months are always written in Capital letters.

In US English, a comma is put after the day if it is followed by a year.

 March 17, 2016.

 December 22, 2012.
How can you ask for the date in English?

The main ways of asking the date are:

What day is it today?

– People will probably respond with a day of the week (It’s Monday) or the number (It’s the
19th).
What date is it?
– People may give you the number (It’s the 19th) or the day/month (It’s 19th May or May
19th). They will not answer with a day of the week.
What is the date (today)? OR What is today’s date?
– This is another way where you will get a number as an answer.
The response to your question will most likely start with…

 The date is …
 The date today is …
 Today is…
 It is… (most common)

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Summary Chart

Now, answer these questions

 When is your birthday?

 When were you born?
 When is New Year’s Eve?

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3. Making Appointments
Have you had to make an appointment recently? What about arranging plans with your
friends or family?

You probably make appointments and plans on a regular basis, but you’re probably
wondering if you’re using the right language and expressions to schedule these meetings.

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If so, don’t worry – we’re going to talk all about it!

Making Appointments and Plans

There are many reasons that we need to make appointments.

Some of the most common appointments are visiting the doctor or the dentist, scheduling
time for a haircut or manicure, and arranging a time for a service in your home, such as
installing cable TV and internet.
We may also need to schedule a meeting with a coworker, a manager, or a professor from
university, or make plans to spend time with friends.
Making appointments is much easier when you are talking to the person directly and can look
at a calendar to decide on a good time to meet.

However, we usually schedule appointments on the phone and this type of conversation
can be stressful when you’re a non-native English speaker – even if you’re fluent!
We often use special expressions to make plans and schedule appointments, so you need to
be able to understand and react to what people are saying to you.
This vocabulary lesson will help you understand and use the questions we often use to make
appointments. You will also be able to agree to requests to make plans or suggest
alternative meeting times.

State Your Request

When making appointments, we often begin the conversation by indicating what kind of
plans we would like to make. This prepares the other person to go deeper into the
conversation.
Making Plans with a Friend
 Let’s go to the movies this weekend.
 Let’s hang out this weekend.
 I need some help with my homework.
 I’d like to try that new Italian restaurant.

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Making a Professional Appointment
 I’d like to make an appointment to see Dr. Smith.
 I’d like to meet about the report I’ve been working on.
 I would like to meet with you about my essay.

Asking about Availability

After introducing your reason for meeting, you need to ask about the other person’s
availability.
There are many ways to do this. You want to choose the right language based on the person
you are talking to and how formal your request needs to be.

After all, you’ll be more relaxed with a friend than with the receptionist at the doctor’s office!

More Informal
 Are you free tonight / next Saturday / on July 15?
 Are you around this weekend?
 Do you have any plans this weekend / next Wednesday / after class?
 Do you have any time this afternoon?
 Do you have free time next week?
These questions are casual ways to ask a friend or acquaintance if they are available on a
specific day or during a period of time.
When you find out that your friend is free, you can make your request. For example, you can
say, “Let’s go out to eat!”, “Do you want to go the museum on Sunday?”, or “Can you help
me with my homework?”
More Formal
 Are you available on Saturday, June 7 / Monday afternoon?
 Do you have any availability next week?
 Does the doctor have any availability in the next few days?
When we are talking to coworkers, managers, professors, or doctors, we often use more
formal language to show respect for their time.

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Asking about availability shows that you understand that they are busy and that you want to
find a good time that is convenient for both of you.

Agreeing to Meet
When we agree to meet at a specific time, we often show enthusiasm using one of the
following phrases and usually confirm the date and/or time.

 That works for me.

 I can do Thursday at 5PM.
 Sounds good!
 Sounds great! I’ll see you Friday night.
 That’s perfect for me.

Finding a Better Time to Meet

If everyone can’t meet at the suggested time, we need to negotiate to find a better time to
meet.
First, we indicate that we are busy at the suggested time. Sometimes we give a simple reason,
such as another appointment. Then we suggest a different time to meet or ask another
question about the other person’s availability.

 I’m not free on Sunday, but how about Monday?

 I’m not around this weekend. I already have plans. Can we try next week?
 I’m sorry, I’m not available at 4PM. I have another appointment.
 Thursday night doesn’t work for me. I have a previous commitment.
 I can’t make it at 3PM. Let’s try to meet at 4 instead.
If this time works for the other person, we agree to meet and confirm the time again. You
may repeat this negotiation a few times to find the best time for the appointment.

Example conversation
Lucy Hi. Can I speak to Amanda, please ?
Amanda Speaking.
Lucy Hi Amanda. It’s Lucy. I got a message you had called.
Amanda Oh, hi Lucy. Thanks for calling back.
Lucy Sure. What’s up ?

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 I wanted to know if you fancied playing tennis this
Amanda
weekend.
This weekend ? Let me see … Yeah, it should be ok.
Lucy
Which day ?
Amanda I was thinking of Saturday. Is that good for you ?
Lucy I’m a little busy on Saturday. Can you manage Sunday ?
Amanda Yes, Sunday is fine too.
Lucy Great. What’s better for you, morning or afternoon ?
Amanda Shall we say late morning ?
Lucy Yes, that sounds good. How about 11 o’clock ?
Amanda Yes, 11 is good.
Lucy OK, I’ll look forward to it.
Amanda Same here, see you on Sunday. Bye
Lucy See you then. Take care!

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