Skip to content
Heidi

The sentence does not survive these

am vieri, halbi drüü — telling the time

The rule

«am» means «at», «ab» means «past»: am viertel ab achti = at quarter past eight. The full hour usually takes an -i: am vieri, am achti, am zwölfi. «Halbi drüü» is half past two, 2:30 — counted towards three, as in German.

Where it catches you

All three little words mean something else in German: «am» sounds like «am Montag» (on Monday), «ab» like «ab acht Uhr» (from eight). But «viertel ab achti» is 8:15, not «from 7:45».

Practise this topic