HES wrote:ucim wrote:to me "half 7" should mean "halfway to seven", or 6:30.
It does, in German.
Hungarian too, probably not coincidentally.
Soupspoon wrote:There's a number of languages that has half-to notation, which accept things like "five past half (to) three" as 14:35 (assuming PM, naturally), and maybe "five to half (to) three" for thirty-five to the hour, over twenty-five past the prior one. At least archaically.
Okay, that sounded pretty mad, but then I realised I could say
öt perccel múlt fél három1 and it wouldn't sound weird.
ETA: That actually works for any number of minutes up to maybe even ten and also in the opposite direction,
Tíz perc múlva háromnegyed három2 would also work for the same time. The odd bit there is that "three quarters three" means it is three quarter hours past two (or quarter to three, if you will). Does any other language use "three quarters" at all when talking about time?
ETA2:
1 "five minutes past half to three"
2"ten minutes to quarter to three"