Military time is an easier, more reliable way of telling time. Each hour of the day has its own number, meaning you don’t need to use a.m. or p.m.
Read on to learn more.
How Does Military Time Work?
Learn About Military Time:
Military time is easy—each hour is marked by its own number. From 1 a.m. to 12 p.m., time stays the same, but written 0100, 0200, etc., all the way to 1200. After 12 noon, the next hour is 1300, followed by 1400, etc. Midnight is 2400 or 0000, marking where one day ends and another begins.
How to convert back to regular time without a military time converter:
- Know the time you want to convert. For this example, we’ll use 1600 hours.
- Subtract 1200 from your time. 1600 – 1200 = 400, which gives you 4:00 p.m. regular time.
|Military Time||Pronunciation||Civilian Time|
|0000||Zero hundred hours||12:00am Midnight|
|0100||Zero one hundred hours||01:00 am|
|0200||Zero two hundred hours||02:00 am|
|0300||Zero three hundred hours||03:00 am|
|0400||Zero four hundred hours||04:00 am|
|0500||Zero five hundred hours||05:00 am|
|0600||Zero six hundred hours||06:00 am|
|0700||Zero seven hundred hours||07:00 am|
|0800||Zero eight hundred hours||08:00 am|
|0900||Zero nine hundred hours||09:00 am|
|1000||Ten hundred hours||10:00 am|
|1100||Eleven hundred hours||11:00 am|
|1200||Twelve hundred hours||12:00pm Noon|
|1300||Thirteen hundred hours||01:00 pm|
|1400||Fourteen hundred hours||02:00 pm|
|1500||Fifteen hundred hours||03:00 pm|
|1600||Sixteen hundred hours||04:00 pm|
|1700||Seventeen hundred hours||05:00 pm|
|1800||Eighteen hundred hours||06:00 pm|
|1900||Nineteen hundred hours||07:00 pm|
|2000||Twenty hundred hours||08:00 pm|
|2100||Twenty-one hundred hours||09:00 pm|
|2200||Twenty-two hundred hours||10:00 pm|
|2300||Twenty-three hundred hours||11:00 pm|
|2400||Twenty-four hundred hours||12:00am Midnight|
How to Write Military Time
We write military time and civilian time (normal time) differently. One o’clock civilian time (12-hour clock) is 0100 hours military time.
- 12-hour clock: 7:43 a.m. (seven forty-three a.m.)
- 24-hour clock: 0743 (zero seven hundred forty-three hours)
- 12-hour clock: 1:44 p.m. (one forty-four p.m.)
24-hour clock: 1344 (thirteen hundred forty-four hours)
Why Use Military Time?
Military time has several advantages. Here is more information to help you decide when best to use it.
Reasons to use military time vs. standard time:
- Avoid confusion over a.m. and p.m.
- Great way to learn time, as there is one number for each hour of the day.
- Avoid mis-setting your alarm clock for p.m. instead of a.m.
- Read travel information easily, such as boarding passes.
- Conversion is easy — subtract 1200 for hours after noon.
- Standard time repeats; a 24-hour clock does not.
- It’s used by government agencies like the National Guard, Army, Navy, Marines, and the Air Force, as well as law enforcement and emergency services.
- Military watches are easier to read.
- It does not require a.m. or p.m. to distinguish between morning and evening.
- Many jobs use military time to calculate monthly timesheets.
- Widely used anywhere that exact time is needed.
Why is it important to know military time?
Knowing military time prevents confusion about a.m. and p.m. There is no a.m. or p.m. because each hour is a separate number, from 0000 hours to 2400 hours. You can set your alarm clock to a 24 hour time to prevent accidentally setting your alarm clock for the wrong time.
How do you convert military time to civilian time?
To convert, simply subtract 1200 from whatever time it is past noon. This will give you the corresponding civilian time. This math applies to any time past noon and before midnight. For example, 1700 hours – 1200 = 500 hours, or 5:00 pm standard time.
Numbers between midnight and noon already correspond with civilian time. For example, 0800 hours equals 8:00 a.m. standard time.
How do you use military time in a sentence?
You can notate it: 1400 hours (spoken “fourteen hundred hours”). You can also notate it: Fourteen hundred hours.
What is military time actually called?
Military time is also called Zulu time, or 24 hour time. The United States military uses this time to reduce hour time confusion. The United States government, specifically the Department of Veteran Affairs, uses 24 hour time.
A 12 hour clock is called regular time, normal time, civilian time, or standard time. Clock notation is easier to calculate with a calculator for local time using the 24 hour format rather than with the 12 hour format. Montly timesheets are easier to calculate time clock hour time.
Why don’t we all use military time?
Civilians don’t use military time because it’s harder to write out. Numbers between twelve and twenty-four contain more than one syllable, whereas most numbers between 1 and 12 are single-syllable words (save for 7 and 11). Many people need a standard time conversion chart or military time converter to figure out the correct time. You don’t need a military time converter chart. Subtract 1200 from any time between 1300 hours and 2400 hours, and it will give you the standard time.