Telling the Time, Days and Age

01

The Days of the Week

• Mande - Monday
• Tunde - Tuesday
• Trinde - Wednesday
• Fonde - Thursday
• Fraide - Friday
• Sarere - Saturday
• Sande - Sunday

Look closely at the middle of that list. Trinde is English "three" plus "day", and Fonde is "four" plus "day" - Wednesday and Thursday are simply the third and fourth days, counting Monday as the first. Tunde looks like "two-day" on the same principle. Friday, Saturday and Sunday go back to their English names instead, so the week is a hybrid: named at the ends, numbered in the middle.

• Wanem de em tude?

  What day is it today?

• Em Sarere.

  It's Saturday.

• Tumora em wikend?

  Is tomorrow the weekend?

• Man ya bai stretim televisin bilong mi long Tunde.

  That man will fix my television on Tuesday.

02

Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday

• Yu wokim wanem long aste?

  What did you do yesterday?

• Lukim yu long tumora.

  See you tomorrow.

• Tude em nambawan de bilong mun Mei.

  Today is the first of May.

03

Parts of the Day

• moning - morning
• apinun - afternoon, early evening
• nait - night

These take long, like any other time expression. After olgeta, "every", the preposition is dropped.

• Na long moning yu kam bek.

  And in the morning you come back.

• Long nait mi no save slip.

  At night I don't sleep.

• Olgeta apinun mi save pilai basketbol.

  Every afternoon I play basketball.

04

The Clock

The time of day goes in a fixed frame: taim as the subject, then the predicate marker, then the hour with klok.

• Taim em i seven klok long moning?

  Is it seven o'clock in the morning?

• Taim em i nain fifti-faiv.

  The time is nine fifty-five.

• Long faivpela minit, em bai ten klok.

  In five minutes it will be ten o'clock.

For the half hour, hap pas - hap "half" and pas "past", assembled exactly as in English.

• Taim em i hap pas sikis long apinun.

  It's half past six in the afternoon.

• Long hap pas sikis klok.

  At half past six.

Minutes past the hour are said with lusim pinis, literally "has left" the hour behind.

• Taim em i fiftinpela minit i lusim pinis eleven klok.

  It's fifteen minutes past eleven.

05

Age: Counting Christmases

The word for a year of age is krismas - Christmas. Age is counted in Christmases, one per year.

• Hamas krismas bilong em?

  How old is she?

• Krismas bilong em nainti-faiv.

  She is ninety-five.

• Hamas krismas bilong ol?

  How old are they?

• Ol tripela pikinini bilong mi, olgeta wankain krismas.

  My three children are all the same age.

Note that age is not something you are or have here. English says "she is ninety-five", French says she has ninety-five years; Tok Pisin says the Christmases belong to her. For a thing, you ask how many Christmases it has stood.

• Hamas krismas dispela haus i sanap?

  How old is this house?