According to the Cambridge dictionary, the answer for “What time is it?” depends on the minutes.
When the times outside five-minute intervals, we say minutes past or
minutes to:9.01 one minute past nine
9.03 three minutes past nine
9.36 twenty-four minutes to ten
9.58 two minutes to ten
Otherwise, we can say directly what we see on the watch / clock, it says to read it simply. For example:
9.05 five past nine or nine oh five
9.10 ten past nine or nine ten
9.15 quarter past nine or nine fifteen
9.20 twenty past nine or nine twenty
9.25 twenty-five past nine or nine twenty-five
Can we say times out loud by the actual numbers that are on the watch / clock and maybe these Cambridge rules are only in the UK? According to what I remember, many times when I asked people about the time, they didn't follow those rules. They would say: 10:13 = Ten thirteen. 8:21 = eight twenty one etc. If that is correct, then what about 10:11, 10:10, 9:11 — if I simply read them as they are (Ten eleven), it works?
Best Answer
Admittedly, I'm answering a BrE question as an American, but your source is suspect.
This is grammatical, but nobody in their right mind would actually say it. Who's got the time to calculate 60 minus 36 to come up with this version? You'd just say "Nine thirty-six". (If the time is close to a round value, it's perfectly normal to say it's "twenty to one" or "a quarter to three")
In the days of analog clocks, people would normally give the time to the nearest 5 minutes.
Now when the most likely way to find the time is to look at your phone, you'll mostly just read off exactly what it says, whether it's "ten fifteen" or "seven twenty-seven". When the minutes are less than 10, you'll add an "oh", as in "six oh five".