How to Tell Time in Sanskrit
Telling time is something we do easily every day, but it is when learning a new language that we might realize that it’s a pretty complicated task.
Telling time is something we do easily every day, but it is when learning a new language that we might realize that it’s a pretty complicated task. In telling time, we don’t just say whatever the numbers are, but elaborate using phrases such as “quarter past nine” or “10 minutes to five” or “half past seven”.
So how do you do this in Sanskrit?
Top of the Hour
This is the easiest. At the top of the hour, simply add the unit of time (1 - 12) + वादनम् (vādanam), meaning o’clock. The exceptions to this are numbers 1 - 4, which are slightly shortened as follows:
1. एकम् (ekam) -> एक (eka)
2. द्वे (dve) -> द्वि (dvi)
3. त्रीणि (treeni) -> त्रि (tri)
4. चत्वारि (chatvaari) - चतुर् (chatur)
The result is as follows:
🕐 1 o’clock: एकवादनम् (ekavādanam)
🕑 2 o’clock: द्विवादनम् (dvivādanam)
🕒 3 o’clock: त्रिवादनम् (trivādanam)
🕓 4 o’clock: चतुर्वादनम् (caturvādanam)
🕔 5 o’clock: पञ्चवादनम् (pañcavādanam)
🕕 6 o’clock: षड्वादनम् (ṣaḍvādanam)
🕖 7 o’clock: सप्तवादनम् (saptavādanam)
🕗 8 o’clock: अष्टवादनम् (aṣṭavādanam)
🕘 9 o’clock: नववादनम् (navavādanam)
🕙 10 o’clock: दशवादनम् (daśavādanam)
🕚 11 o’clock: एकादशवादनम् (ekādaśavādanam)
🕛 12 o’clock: द्वादशवादनम् (dvādaśavādanam)
Half Past the Hour
To indicate half-past the hour (e.g. 7:30), we use the word सार्ध (sārdha), meaning “having a half over”. Just like in English we would say “half past seven”, in Sanskrit we would say “सार्ध (sārdha - having half over) + सप्त (sapta - 7) + वादनम् (vādanam - o’clock)”.
Combining these, we would get सार्धसप्तवादनम् (sārdhasaptavādanam). Substitute the 7 for any of the other units of time (1 - 12). 1:30 would be सार्धएकवादनम् (sārdhaekavādanam), 12:30 would be सार्धद्वादशवदानं (sārdhadvādaśavadānaṁ). Simply add the word सार्ध to the top of the hour words above!
Quarters
The word for “quarter” in Sanskrit is पाद (pāda).
So to say 6:15 or “quarter past six”, we would say “सपाद (sapāda - with a quarter) + षड्(ṣaḍ - 6) + वादनम् (vādanam - o’clock)”. Notice that स(sa) is added to पाद(pāda) to indicate “with a quarter”, as in 6 o’clock with a quarter. Combining these would get सपादषड्वादनम् (sapādaṣaḍvādanam).
When we say “quarter to six” (5:45), we use पाद(pāda) + ऊन(ūna - meaning “less by”) combined to पादोन(pādona). So “quarter to six” would be “पादोन(pādona - less by a quarter) + षड्(ṣaḍ - 6) + वादनम्” (vādanam - o’clock), combined to पादोनषड्वादनम् (pādonaṣaḍvādanam)
Substitute षड्(6) with any other time unit (1-12) to do the same for the other top-of-the-hour times. For example, 3:15 would be सपादत्रिवादनम् (sapādatrivādanam) and 10:45 would be पादोनएकादशवादनम् (pādonaekādaśavādanam).
Past the Hour
Now getting to other times besides special ones like quarter or half. Let’s say you just want to say “9:10”. The word used here is अधिक (adhika) meaning more or additional. So “9:10” or “10 past 9” resulting in “दाश(dāśa - 10) + अधिक (adhika - additional to) + नववादनम् (navavādanam - 9 o’clock)”, combined to दाशाधिक-नववादनम् (dāśādhika-navavādanam).
Adapt this to the correct amount of minutes past the top-of-the-hour as needed. For example, 4:05 will be पञ्चाधिक-चतुर्वादनम् (pañcādhika-caturvādanam - 5 past 4 o’clock) or 8:36 will be षट्त्रिंशतधिक-अष्टवादनम् (ṣaṭtriṁśatadhika-aṣṭavādanam - 36 past 8 o’clock).
To the Hour
As we get closer to the next hour, instead of saying “10:55”, we might say “5 to 11”. In this case, the word ऊन(ūna - meaning “less by”) is used again as in the case of “quarter to”. So to say 10:55 or “5 minutes to 11”, we would say “पञ्च(pañca - 5) + ऊन(ūna - meaning “less by”) + एकादशवादनम् (ekādaśavādanam)”, combining into पञ्चोन-एकादशवादनम् (pañcona-ekādaśavādanam).
To adapt it to any other time, just add the number of minutes with ऊन(ūna) and combine with the following top-of-the-hour. For example, 3:50 would be दशोन-चतुर्वादनम् (daśona-caturvādanam - 10 minutes to 4) and 6:51 would be नवोन-सप्तवादनम् (navona-saptavādanam - 9 minutes to 7).
AM / PM
From googling around how to say AM / PM in Sanskrit, I was surprised to find many blog posts mentioning that the concept and even the initials AM / PM originated from Sanskrit words आरोहणम् मार्तण्डस्य (Ārohaṇam Mārtaṇḍasya - AM!) meaning climbing of the sun and पतनम् मार्तण्डस्य (Patanam Mārtaṇḍasya - PM!) meaning falling of the sun.
The blog posts looked like they were from the same person posting on multiple forums, so I’m not sure if this is true and could only find personal YouTube videos in Hindi, so I will go with this :)
Enjoy telling time and let me know in the comments if I missed anything!
