When telling time and 30 minutes has gone past an hour, we say “half past”. For instance, half past 4 or half past 5.
Why can’t we also say “half to”. For instance, half to 5 or half to 6?
Shouldn’t it be a matter of preference, as it is when a glass is said to be half empty or half full?
Best Answer
If you make it a matter of personal preference you will defeat one of the purposes of language, which is to make your meaning clear to your listeners or readers. If no one else says half to, you may find that you will be asked to repeat what you have said in some other way. There is also a more direct risk of confusion. In British English, at least, half followed by an hour is used by some to mean half past [hour].
It's perhaps worth adding that in German, by contrast, half followed by an hour does mean 30 minutes before the hour named. Halb eins is not 'half past one', but 'half past twelve'. So there's no cognitive reason why time can't be expressed in this way.