Learn Dutch: De pauze begint om kwart voor drie. - The break begins at a quarter to three.

You use kwart voor to say "quarter to". Kwart means "quarter" and voor means "before" or "in front of". So kwart voor drie literally translates to "quarter before three" (2:45).

English says "a quarter to three". Why isn't there a word for "a" in the Dutch sentence?

Unlike English, Dutch does not use an article here. You just say kwart voor drie. You never put een (a) before kwart when telling the time on a clock.

Why do we use om to say "at" in this sentence?

In Dutch, om is the specific word you must use for clock times. Whenever you want to say that something happens "at" a certain time on the clock, you always use om.

Why does the verb end in a "t" (begint)?

The full dictionary verb is beginnen (to begin). Because the subject is de pauze (the break), which acts as a singular "it" word, we follow the standard A1 rule: take the stem of the verb and add a -t to make begint.