Date and time notation in Netherlands

Date

In the Netherlands, dates are written as:

• dd-mm-yyyy ("31-10-1999")
• dd-mm-yy ("31-10-99")
• month written out ("31 oktober 1999")
• month abbreviated ("31 okt 1999")
• occasionally month as a roman number 31 X 1999
• including weekday ("zondag 31 oktober 1999")

The names and abbreviations of months and weekdays are as follows:

English Dutch Dutch abbreviation January januari jan. February februari feb. March maart mrt. or maa. April april apr. May mei mei June juni jun. July juli jul. August augustus aug. September september sep. October oktober okt. November november nov. December december dec.

English Dutch Dutch abbreviation Monday maandag ma. Tuesday dinsdag di. Wednesday woensdag wo. Thursday donderdag do. Friday vrijdag vr. Saturday zaterdag za. Sunday zondag zo.

Names of months and weekdays are not capitalised in Dutch.

Time

Dutch TV listings magazines invariably use 24-hour notation

In written language, time is expressed in the 24-hour notation, with or without leading zero, using a full stop or colon as a separator, sometimes followed by the word uur (hour) or its abbreviation u. For example: 22.51 uur, 9.12 u., or 09:12. In technical and scientific texts the use of the abbreviations h, min and s is common. For example 17 h 03 min 16 s.^[1] Use of the twelve-hour clock in numeric writing is not standard practice, not even in informal writing, and writing e.g., "1.30" for 13:30 would be regarded as odd.

In spoken language, most often time is expressed in the 12-hour clock. However, "a.m." and "p.m." are never used. Instead, an apposition is added, for instance 21:00 is said as "9 uur 's avonds" (9 o'clock in the evening). Half hours are relative to the next hour, for instance 5:30 is said as "half 6". Quarter hours are expressed relative to the nearest whole hour, for example 6:15, "kwart over 6" (quarter past six) and 6:45, "kwart voor zeven" (quarter to seven). Minutes are usually rounded off to the nearest five minutes and are expressed relative to the closest half-hour. For instance 05:35 is "5 over half 6" (literally "5 past half to 6").

In cases that a 24-hour clock is used in spoken language, usually the written form is pronounced with the hours as a number, the word "uur" (hour) and the minutes as a number. For example, 17:21 might be pronounced as "zeventien uur eenentwintig" (seventeen hours twenty-one). Hours over 12 are not usually combined with phrasings using "half", "quarter", "to", or "past".

References

1. ^ Taaladvies: "8h30 / 8u.30 / 8.30 u. / 8.30 uur"