Military time chart (24-hour clock conversion)

The full conversion chart

12-hour clock	24-hour / military	Military spoken
12:00 AM (midnight)	00:00 (or 24:00)	"Zero hundred hours"
1:00 AM	01:00	"Zero one hundred hours"
2:00 AM	02:00	"Zero two hundred"
3:00 AM	03:00	"Zero three hundred"
4:00 AM	04:00	"Zero four hundred"
5:00 AM	05:00	"Zero five hundred"
6:00 AM	06:00	"Zero six hundred"
7:00 AM	07:00	"Zero seven hundred"
8:00 AM	08:00	"Zero eight hundred"
9:00 AM	09:00	"Zero nine hundred"
10:00 AM	10:00	"Ten hundred"
11:00 AM	11:00	"Eleven hundred"
12:00 PM (noon)	12:00	"Twelve hundred"
1:00 PM	13:00	"Thirteen hundred"
2:00 PM	14:00	"Fourteen hundred"
3:00 PM	15:00	"Fifteen hundred"
4:00 PM	16:00	"Sixteen hundred"
5:00 PM	17:00	"Seventeen hundred"
6:00 PM	18:00	"Eighteen hundred"
7:00 PM	19:00	"Nineteen hundred"
8:00 PM	20:00	"Twenty hundred"
9:00 PM	21:00	"Twenty-one hundred"
10:00 PM	22:00	"Twenty-two hundred"
11:00 PM	23:00	"Twenty-three hundred"

Quick mental conversion

For PM times (1 PM – 11 PM): add 12 to convert 12-hour → military. Subtract 12 to convert military → 12-hour.

3 PM → 3 + 12 = 15:00
20:00 → 20 - 12 = 8 PM

For AM times (1 AM – 11 AM): they're the same, just with a leading zero in military format.

7 AM → 07:00
09:00 → 9 AM

The two edge cases:

• Midnight (12 AM) = 00:00 in military time (NOT 12:00)
• Noon (12 PM) = 12:00 in military time

How military time is pronounced

Military time is read in groups of two digits:

• 06:45 = "Zero six forty-five"
• 14:30 = "Fourteen thirty"
• 22:15 = "Twenty-two fifteen"
• 09:00 = "Zero nine hundred hours" or "Oh nine hundred"

Times ending in :00 are spoken as "[hour] hundred" or "[hour] hundred hours." Times with minutes are spoken as the full number — "fourteen thirty" not "fourteen and thirty minutes past."

Why the military uses 24-hour time

Three reasons, all about clarity in high-stakes communication:

1. Eliminates AM/PM confusion. When coordinating operations across time zones or under stress, mishearing "0800" vs "2000" is much harder than mishearing "8 AM" vs "8 PM."
2. Unambiguous written orders. Mission briefs, flight plans, and orders need to specify times that can't be misread.
3. International interoperability. NATO, UN forces, and most allied militaries use 24-hour time, making coordination cleaner.

Which civilians use 24-hour time?

• Hospitals and medical professionals (worldwide)
• Air traffic controllers and pilots
• Train and bus schedules in most of the world
• Computer systems and timestamps (often UTC)
• Most of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America in daily life

The 12-hour clock holdouts

Only a handful of countries use 12-hour time as the dominant civilian format:

• United States
• Canada (English-speaking parts)
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• India (mostly, though 24-hour is common in transit and tech)
• Mexico (mixed)
• UK (mixed; broadcast TV uses 12-hour, schedules use 24-hour)

Common conversion mistakes

Mistake 1: Confusing 12 AM and 12 PM

"12 AM" is technically midnight (start of the day). "12 PM" is noon (middle of the day). In military time, midnight is 00:00 and noon is 12:00. Many digital clocks and event schedules get this wrong, leading to people showing up 12 hours early or late.

Practical tip: when scheduling, write "12:00 noon" or "12:00 midnight" instead of "12 PM" or "12 AM" to avoid all ambiguity.

Mistake 2: Treating 13:00 as 3 PM

13:00 is 1 PM (one PM), not 3 PM. The number 13 comes after 12 — 13:00 is one hour after noon. Convert by subtracting 12: 13 - 12 = 1, so 13:00 = 1:00 PM.

Mistake 3: Reading 00:30 as 12:30 PM

00:30 is 12:30 AM (half an hour after midnight). 12:30 PM is 12:30 in military time.

Need to do time math?

Use the Hours Calculator for shift duration math (it accepts both formats), or the Time Zone Converter for cross-zone conversions. Both accept input in either 12-hour or 24-hour format.

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Published May 2026. Spot an error? Email contactus@calculatehours.net.