How to Pronounce Military Time
Updated June 13, 2026
In military time, each four-digit number is spoken as two pairs. 0000 is "zero hundred hours." 0600 is "zero six hundred hours." 1730 is "seventeen thirty hours." The word "hours" is standard but often dropped in casual conversation.
Direct answer
Read the first two digits as the hour and the last two digits as the minutes. Hours 01-09 start with "zero" (like "zero six hundred"). Hours 10-23 are spoken as the full number ("ten," "seventeen," "twenty-three"). 0000 is always "zero hundred" or "zero hundred hours."
The basic rule
Military time is always written as four digits without a colon: 0600, not 6:00. When you say it out loud, split it into two two-digit groups.
The first two digits are the hour. The last two are the minutes. Say each group as a number, not digit by digit. So 1730 is "seventeen thirty," not "one seven three zero."
If you want to be formal — which is the norm in military, aviation, and emergency services — add "hours" at the end. "The briefing is at oh six hundred hours." In everyday use, people often skip "hours" and just say "oh six hundred."
Pronunciation by time of day
| Written | Spoken | 12-hour equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 0000 | Zero hundred (hours) | 12:00 AM |
| 0030 | Zero thirty | 12:30 AM |
| 0600 | Zero six hundred or oh six hundred | 6:00 AM |
| 0800 | Zero eight hundred or oh eight hundred | 8:00 AM |
| 1200 | Twelve hundred | 12:00 PM |
| 1400 | Fourteen hundred | 2:00 PM |
| 1730 | Seventeen thirty | 5:30 PM |
| 1830 | Eighteen thirty | 6:30 PM |
| 2100 | Twenty-one hundred | 9:00 PM |
| 2345 | Twenty-three forty-five | 11:45 PM |
Zero vs "oh"
Both are used, but they show up in different settings. "Zero" is the formal military standard — "zero six hundred." "Oh" is more common in everyday speech and in police and fire dispatch — "oh six hundred."
For 0000, people say "zero hundred" or "zero dark hundred" (the latter is informal and mostly used in the military for very early morning hours). You will also hear "midnight" in casual settings.
0000 vs 2400 — are they the same?
Yes and no. Both 0000 and 2400 point to midnight, but they are used differently.
0000
Marks the start of a day. If your shift begins at midnight, it starts at 0000. This is the standard in most military and 24-hour contexts.
2400
Marks the end of a day. If a deadline is "by 2400 Friday," it means before Saturday starts. Some schedules use 2400 to avoid ambiguity about which day midnight belongs to.
In practice, most organizations that use military time stick to 0000 and avoid 2400 entirely. If you see 2400 on a schedule, it means the same moment as 0000 the next day.
Military time vs standard 24-hour time
Military time and 24-hour time use the same numbers. The difference is in how you write and say them.
24-hour time uses a colon: 18:30. Military time drops the colon: 1830. When spoken, military time always uses the four-digit pronunciation. In countries that use 24-hour time in daily life — France, Germany, Brazil — people often just convert it to 12-hour in conversation. A French speaker seeing 18:30 on a train ticket would usually say "six heures trente" (six thirty), not "dix-huit heures trente."
The military keeps the four-digit format in speech because it leaves no room for mishearing. "Eighteen thirty" cannot be confused with "eight thirty."