Seven Hours and A Half. How to Say It in German?

Bahasa Indonesia - Deutsch

I never thought how I should say 7 1/2 hours in German. I know, how I should say 1/2 hour in German: eine halbe Stunde. How do you say 1 1/2 hours in German? The answer is anderthalb Stunden according to the dictionary Woerterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (Muenchen: dtv, 1987). (It is actually confusing, because there is no decline. In my opinion it should be "anderthalbe Stunden". Well,...) But 7 1/2 hours in German? Well, I never think and just say: sieben halbe Stunden. :-)

Because I teach German now, it must be grammatically correct as long as possible. Unfortunately my three dictionaries (Heuken, Krause, Wahrig) could not help me. Searching by the entry "halb" (it is setengah in Indonesian language) and the entry "setengah" (it is halb in German) there were almost no examples, where "halb" is behind. 7 1/2 : half (= halb) is behind seven. Most of it is on the front. I quote several examples: halb drei, eine und eine halbe Stunde (what is this? 1 1/2?), ein halbes Kilo, halbherzig, Halbzeit, auf halbem Wege, eine Halbe, halb so schlimm, etc.. The only one example, where "halb" is behind: er schlief noch halb. :-( Unfortunately this example hasn't solved my problem. :-( 

Since dictionaries didn't function, then I must quickly consult the native speakers. These friends have replied. I just consider all friends. :-)

Tina in Grevenbroich

siebeneinhalb = 7.5

Anderthalb = 1.5 

Marita in Hanstedt

if you speak about 7.5 hours (km, kg,...) or read it, then it always means seven hours (km,...) the whole and a half. What you said before "sieben halbe" is wrong. Sieben halbe Stunden are only 3 hours the whole and a half. We speak that (7.5) so: siebeneinhalb Stunden or km, just like you meant accordingly, 7 hours the whole and a half. My dear, I hope I could help you.

Nicole in Hamburg

You are right, it must be 7 einhalb Stunden.  It is better, sieben Stunden und 30 Minuten, if you want to be very correct. And halb drei means 14:30 until 2:30.

Saying about time is not everywhere in Germany in the same way. In the South we say for example  viertel drei (= 14:15) and dreiviertel vier (= 15:45), in the opposite it is in the North of Germany viertel nach zwei (= 14:15) and it is viertel vor vier (= 15:45). Why that's so, I naturally cannot explain to you either; but if I tell someone here in Hamburg, "es ist viertel zwei", then he thinks it were "viertel nach zwei". ...strange, but that's so. :-)

So, not "sieben halbe Stunden", but the correct term is siebeneinhalb Stunden. And therefore anderthalb Stunden is already correct without decline.:-) Why is it so? Then I must write a new article about that in this blog.;-)

It is also interesting to know how the people in South of Germany say about the time. We have studied the standard German "Hochdeutsch" at the university (German Dept., Universitas Indonesia). People in the North of Germany supposed to speak Hochdeutsch.


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