A very common question about military time is “What is 2359 in military time?” Understanding this, we have put together this short but detailed article.
In short, 2359 in military time is 11:59 PM in 12-hour time format and 23:59 in 24-hour time format. But what do you need to know in order to do this time conversion by yourself in the future? Read the rest of this article to find out.
Table of Contents
Military Time 101
What is military time? How is it different from standard civilian time?
Military time, as implied in the name, is the timekeeping system used by the military. It is not like the standard civilian time because it runs on a clock with 24 hours instead of 12. As a result, it does not have the P.M. (Post Meridiem) and A.M. (Ante Meridiem) notations like the standard civilian time. In military time, anytime after 12 is not denoted with P.M but continues the count up to 24. Hence, military time begins at 00 and ends at 24, more specifically, 0000 and 2400.
Plus, the way you pronounce military time is different; instead of “P.M”, “A.M”, or “o’clock”, you will hear “hours” and “zero”, or “oh”.
Is military time the same as 24-hour time? If not, how is it different?
Military time is a lot like 24-hour time, but it is not the same. Military time also uses four digits like 24-hour time, however, the digits are not separated into hours and minutes by a colon (:). Military time is also pronounced differently from 24-hour time, as you will find out in a bit.
How to Tell and Pronounce Military Time?
As mentioned earlier, military time consists of four digits. These digits are the hours and minutes. The first two are the hours and the remaining two are the minutes.
For the hours without minutes:
Pronounce the time given as is, plus the word “hundred” or the phrase “hundred hours”. Also, for the hours before 9, you read the word “zero” before the hour number given. You can replace the word “zero” with “oh” in less diplomatic situations, as well. For the hours after 9, you omit the word “zero” and read it as you would with pairs.
So, for instance:
- 0500 is read as “zero five hundred” or “zero five hundred hours”.
- Or in less formal situations, “oh five hundred” or “oh five hundred hours”.
- 1500 is read as “fifteen hundred” or “fifteen hundred hours”.
Note: If you are reading the hours with minutes, omit the word “hundred”.
Now that you have learned how to read the hours, let’s move on to reading the minutes:
Essentially, the same rules are applied. Minutes before 9 are read with a “zero” or an “oh”, while those after 9 are read as is in pairs. If the military time is 1505, it is “fifteen zero five hours” and if it is 1515, it is “fifteen fifteen hours”.
For more, watch this video on Youtube.
What Does 2359 Mean in Military Time?
How to convert military time into standard civilian time?
In order to find out what 2359 military time is, we need to be able to convert military time 2359 to standard civilian time and vice versa. Let’s do that now:
- Separate the time (2359) into hours and minutes. We should get 23 hours and 59 minutes.
- Determine if the time is greater than 1200. If it is, take 12 hours away from it. So here, we have 2359 > 1300. Taking away 12 hours, we get 11 hours.
- Keep the minutes the same. In our case, 59 minutes remain as 59 minutes.
- Insert a colon in between the hours and minutes. Hence, we get 11:59.
- Complete with an “A.M” or a “P.M”. Since 2359 is greater than 1200, we must use P.M. Our final converted result in standard civilian time is 11:59 PM.
Note: Do not confuse 2359 military time with 23:59 in 12 hour time.
And there you have it! You should be able to answer “What is 23:59 in military time?” on your own. To recap:
- When the “hour” is above 1200, subtract it with 1200 and add a “P.M” after it.
- When the “hours” is below 1200:
- The first two digits are the “hours” with “A.M”.
- The last two digits are the “minutes”.
To make sure that we have understood the conversion procedure, let’s try to convert standard civilian time into military time, answering what is 11:59 PM in military time?
- Notice the P.M in 11:59 P.M to deduce that in military time, it is greater than 12:00, and working backward, rather than taking away 12 hours, add 12 hours to 11 to get 23.
- Keep the minutes the same. Here, we still have 59.
- Remove the P.M and colon since these do not appear in military time.
- Get the final converted time. We are left with 2359!
From now on, you should be able to convert any time you need using the same procedure! If you want some practice, check out these worksheets.
In case you are in a rush and cannot sit down to work out the conversions, refer to this chart:
| Military Time | Standard Civilian Time |
| 12:00 Midnight | 0000 |
| 1:00 A.M | 0100 |
| 2:00 A.M | 0200 |
| 3:00 A.M | 0300 |
| 4:00 A.M | 0400 |
| 5:00 A.M | 0500 |
| 6:00 A.M | 0600 |
| 8:00 A.M | 0700 |
| 9:00 A.M | 0900 |
| 10:00 A.M | 1000 |
| 11:00 A.M | 1100 |
| 12:00 P.M | 1200 |
| 1:00 P.M | 1300 |
| 2:00 P.M | 1400 |
| 3:00 P.M | 1500 |
| 4:00 P.M | 1600 |
| 5:00 P.M | 1700 |
| 6:00 P.M | 1800 |
| 7:00 P.M | 1900 |
| 8:00 P.M | 2000 |
| 9:00 P.M | 2100 |
| 10:00 P.M | 2200 |
| 11:00 P.M | 2300 |
| 12:00 P.M | 2400 |
Or an online converter tool for easier checking:
Conclusion
Now, it is safe to say “What is 2359 in military time?” is just one of the many questions about military time that you can answer. Hopefully, you found this article helpful and easy to follow. In case you have additional queries, we have opened the comments for you! Feel free to share your thoughts.
I am Everett Bledsoe, taking on the responsibility of content producer for The Soldiers Project. My purpose in this project is to give honest reviews on the gear utilized and tested over time. Of course, you cannot go wrong when checking out our package of information and guide, too, as they come from reliable sources and years of experience.