Abbreviation for hours: how to write hours, minutes and seconds

The abbreviation for hours is h (lowercase h and no dot). This is the case both in the singular and in the plural, that is, the abbreviation for hours and hours is simply h.

The forms hr, hs, hrs are wrong.

Examples:

• It's 1:00 now.
• It will be 2:00 in a little while.
• It's 3pm now!

how to write hours

To write, we put the numbers and the h together (without spaces), for example: It's 9:00.

In the indication of full hours (six hours, eleven hours, twenty hours) we do not put zeros after h. Compare:

• It's 6 am (right)
• It's 6:00 (wrong)
• It's 11am (right)
• It's 11:00 (wrong)
• It's 8 pm (right)
• It's 20:00 (wrong)

We only put numbers after h in non-full hours, for example: It's 5:30 pm. Note that between the numbers and the abbreviation h there are no spaces.

So, 5:30 pm is right and 5:30 pm is wrong.

Indication of duration of hours: The indication of the number of hours is not abbreviated. This means that when you want to inform the duration of something, you have to write the word hour or hours.

For example:

• The show lasted two hours. (right)
• The show lasted 2h. (wrong)
• I'll be there in an hour. (right)
• In 1h I get there. (wrong)
• That movie is two and a half hours long. (right)
• That movie is 2h30 long. (wrong)

abbreviation of minutes

The minutes abbreviation is min (all lowercase and no dot), for example: I need 15 min to finish this.

In the indication of hours, the abbreviation of minutes is only used when we indicate the seconds in the hours, for example: It's 7:30:13 (It's seven hours, 30 minutes and 13 seconds). Compare:

• It's 7:30 am (right)
• It's 7:30 am (wrong)
• It's 7:30:13 (right)

Note that there are no spaces between numbers and abbreviations.

Abbreviation of seconds

The abbreviation for seconds is s (lowercase s and no dot), for example: Ate the muffin in 55s.

In the indication of hours, using the abbreviation of seconds is optional. Therefore, the two sentences below are correct:

It's 10:22:13.

It's 10:22:13.

Read too:

• Abbreviations: list of most used and rules
• Acronyms
• Crasis before hours