We often use descriptions such as 'quarter past' and 'half past' to tell the time, but it's also good to be able to say exactly how many minutes past the hour or how many minutes to the hour it is.

In English we ask ‘What’s the time?’ In German ... If you want to say ‘it is quarter past nine’ then that’s Es ist viertel nach neun. And half past, in German, you actually say ...