Questions & Answers about Het is half drie.
Why does half drie mean "half past two" instead of "half past three"?
In Dutch, telling the time for half hours looks forward to the next hour. You can think of half drie as meaning "halfway to three o'clock." Because of this, 2:30 is half drie, 3:30 is half vier, and so on.
Can I add the word uur and say Het is half drie uur?
No, you should never use the word uur (hour/o'clock) when talking about half hours in Dutch. You only use uur for full hours, like Het is drie uur (It is three o'clock). For half hours, you just stop at the number.
We learned het means "the". Why does it mean "it" here?
While het is the definite article "the" for neuter words, it is also the standard pronoun for "it". Just like in English, Dutch uses "it" as a placeholder subject for telling time, talking about the weather, and making general statements.
How do I know if half drie means 2:30 in the morning or 2:30 in the afternoon?
In everyday conversation, context usually makes it clear. If you need to be specific, you can add a time of day phrase after it, like 's nachts (at night) or 's middags (in the afternoon). For official schedules, the Dutch often use the 24-hour clock instead, where 2:30 PM is written and spoken as 14:30.