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REFERENCE TABLE · EVERYDAY

Military Time Chart

The complete 24-hour military time chart — every hour from 12:00 AM = 0000 through 11:00 PM = 2300, with how to say each one out loud — plus two live lookups: enter a standard time to get the military time, or enter a military time to get the ordinary clock time back. If you only remember one rule, make it this: PM hours add 12; minutes ride along unchanged; no colon.

238

Standard time → military time

Pick the hour and minutes — the military time appears below.

The clock hour, 1 through 12 — AM/PM is set separately.

PM adds 12 to the hour — that’s the whole trick.

Minutes stay exactly as they are: :30 becomes 30, :05 becomes 05.

Result—Enter values above

Enter values to see the result.

239

Military time → standard time

Enter a four-digit military time — the ordinary clock time appears below.

Four digits, no colon — e.g. 1430. Leading zeros matter: 0700 is 7 AM, not 700. Spaces and colons are stripped automatically.

Result—Enter values above

Enter values to see the result.

The full chart: all 24 hours

Read across: the ordinary time, its military equivalent, and how service members say it out loud. Midnight starts the day at 0000; noon is 1200:

12-hour time24-hour / militarySay it as
12:00 AM0000“zero-hundred”
1:00 AM0100“oh-one-hundred”
2:00 AM0200“oh-two-hundred”
3:00 AM0300“oh-three-hundred”
4:00 AM0400“oh-four-hundred”
5:00 AM0500“oh-five-hundred”
6:00 AM0600“oh-six-hundred”
7:00 AM0700“oh-seven-hundred”
8:00 AM0800“oh-eight-hundred”
9:00 AM0900“oh-nine-hundred”
10:00 AM1000“ten-hundred”
11:00 AM1100“eleven-hundred”
12:00 PM1200“twelve-hundred”
1:00 PM1300“thirteen-hundred”
2:00 PM1400“fourteen-hundred”
3:00 PM1500“fifteen-hundred”
4:00 PM1600“sixteen-hundred”
5:00 PM1700“seventeen-hundred”
6:00 PM1800“eighteen-hundred”
7:00 PM1900“nineteen-hundred”
8:00 PM2000“twenty-hundred”
9:00 PM2100“twenty-one-hundred”
10:00 PM2200“twenty-two-hundred”
11:00 PM2300“twenty-three-hundred”

Minutes, midnight, and the missing colon

Minutes are just the last two digits. 2:30 PM becomes 1430 (“fourteen-thirty”); 7:05 AM becomes 0705 (“oh-seven-oh-five”). The hour converts, the minutes never do. Midnight is 0000 (“zero-hundred”) — the start of the day. You may occasionally see 2400 for midnight at the end of a day (a shift ending 2400 Friday means Friday is over); most schedules stick to 0000, and the two should never label the same midnight in one document. No colon: military time is written 1430, not 14:30 — the colon is a civilian habit. A colon in a military document usually means someone mixed up their clocks.

Worked example: 2:30 PM → 1430. It’s a PM hour, so add 12: 2 + 12 = 14. The minutes ride along unchanged: 30. Put them together — 1430, said “fourteen-thirty.” Going the other way: 1430 starts with 14, which is past 12, so subtract 12: 14 − 12 = 2, and 14 is PM territory — 2:30 PM.

Output · formula · meaning: how to read the chart

OutputFormulaWhat it means
Military timePM: hour + 12 · AM: hour (12 AM = 0)2:30 PM → 1430; 12:00 AM → 0000.
Spoken formhour-pair + minute-pair0700 = “oh-seven-hundred”; 1430 = “fourteen-thirty”.
Midnight12:00 AM = 0000Starts the day. 2400 = midnight ending the day — rare; most schedules use 0000.
Noon12:00 PM = 1200The one PM hour that does not add 12 — the most common conversion mistake.

Who uses this

  • Nurses and hospital staff: medication charts and shift handoffs run on 24-hour time because 0800 can never be misread as 8 PM — the chart lives taped above the desk.
  • Travelers: decoding timetables, transit schedules, and booking confirmations in countries where 14:30 is the only 2:30 there is.
  • New recruits: learning to say it before they have to say it fast — “oh-seven-hundred”, not “seven AM”.
  • Parents: reading school, camp, and sports schedules that switched to 24-hour time and left everyone guessing whether 1830 means dinner.

Accuracy & limitations

The conversion itself is exact arithmetic — there is no rounding or approximation anywhere on this page. Spoken forms vary slightly by service and country (“zero-hundred” vs “oh-hundred” for 0000; some say “hours” after the number). Civilian 24-hour clocks often write 14:30 with a colon; the US military convention omits it. 2400 appears in some timetables for end-of-day midnight, and a few schedules skip 0000 for it. This page is a reference — always confirm an appointment or shift time against the original schedule, especially across time zones.

Cite this reference chartBright Side Kit. “Military Time Chart.” brightoolbox.com, 2026.Bright Side Kit. "Military Time Chart." https://brightoolbox.com/military-time-chart/ Accessed October 22, 2026.
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Frequently asked questions

Why is there no colon in military time?

It’s the convention: military time is written 1430, not 14:30. Dropping the colon keeps the four digits compact and unambiguous in orders, logs, and radio traffic — there is no 14:30 to confuse with anything. Civilian 24-hour clocks (common across Europe) usually keep the colon; that’s a different style, not military time.

What is the difference between 0000 and 2400?

0000 is midnight at the start of the day — the day’s first minute. 2400 is midnight at the end of the day — the day’s last minute. A shift “0000 to 0800” starts at midnight; a schedule ending “2400” runs right up to midnight. Most modern schedules use 0000 only, and you should never use both for the same midnight in one document.

How do you say military time out loud?

Read the two pairs: 0700 is “oh-seven-hundred”, 1500 is “fifteen-hundred,” 1430 is “fourteen-thirty,” and 0000 is “zero-hundred” (sometimes with “hours” after it). Single-digit hours get an “oh” — 0700 is never “seven-hundred” because that could mean 700 of something else.

What is Zulu time?

“Zulu” (Z) is military shorthand for UTC, the world’s reference clock — 1430Z means 2:30 PM UTC, wherever you are. Aviation, the military, and weather services use it so a 0600Z briefing means the same instant in Norfolk and Naples. Your local time is Zulu plus or minus your zone offset: US Eastern is Zulu minus 4 or 5 hours depending on daylight saving.

Why do hospitals and the military use 24-hour time?

Because AM/PM ambiguity can hurt people. A medication chart reading “8:00” is ambiguous; “0800” and “2000” are not — nobody gives a morning dose at 8 PM by mistake. The military’s reason is the same at scale: orders, flight plans, and shift changes must mean exactly one instant, in any time zone, with no one asking “morning or night?”

Is military time the same as the 24-hour clock?

The numbers are the same; the name and the formatting differ. “Military time” is what the US armed forces call the 24-hour clock — written without a colon (1430) and spoken in pairs (“fourteen-thirty”). The civilian 24-hour clock used across Europe and in aviation keeps the colon (14:30). Convert between them freely; just match the style of whoever you’re writing for.

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