[jcranmer]

> Lets say you have 11:00. That's easy. But what about 11:15? We would say "quarter 12", so I guess the English version is "quarter of 12".

The English terms would be:

11:15 -> quarter after 11, quarter past 11 (both pretty rare, tbh)

11:30 -> half past 11 (this is the only form that is moderately common)

11:45 -> quarter of 12, quarter before 12 (also pretty rare)

[sourcepluck]

The "English" terms?

Can you please specify the dialect of English you're referring to, instead of falling for the obviously ridiculous notion that there's one English.

I have never heard "quarter of 12", and wasn't aware it was a thing. In Ireland - Hiberno-English, Irish-English, whatever you like - I've only ever said and heard "quarter to 12" for 11.45.

So, serious question: who says "quarter of 12"? It sounds makey-uppy and illogical, so I'm supposing it might be a linguistic development in the old U.S. of A. I don't feel like I've ever heard it in movies or shows though, in spite of having been subjected to a certain amount of U.S. cultural produce, so this is somewhat mysterious to me.

Please, someone englighten me!

[pessimizer]

And I'm pretty sure the Spanish matches (except in reverse, like Spanish usually is relative to English):

11:15 -> once y cuarto

11:30 -> once y media

11:45 -> doce menos cuarto

edit: and about the subject of the thread, "por sí" or "por sí mismo." "per" afaik is a preposition like "por" that means to pair or match things: so it can mean by, through, around, with, for, and even times("×") i.e. doesn't mean anything in English.

"si" is the 3rd person reflexive pronoun (when placed after the verb), and is probably similar to "se." ("mismo" is a redundant clarification is Spanish, probably because "si" and "sí" are homonyms.)

[asveikau]

Se and si (as used here) are the same word in different cases. I would draw comparisons to latin se and sibi respectively. I'd also draw parallels between sui, suus, secum and suyo, su, consigo.

[brigandish]

Quarter to and quarter past are not rare in Britain, so

11:15 -> quarter past 11 11:45 -> quarter to 12

are very normal to me. In fact any number above 5 to or past are normal. Even smaller numbers come up, where, of course, 1 to 1 and 2 to 2 are particular favourites.

[chrisweekly]

100% agreed. Also, 11:45 -> quarter TO 12 (rare)

[dhosek]

I hear quarter to and quarter after a lot. I think rarity might be a regional thing (or perhaps generational—despite growing up four miles from my childhood home, my children have a different Chicago accent than I do and when I did student teaching in the school district where I went to high school, those kids also commented about the difference in accent).