Why use Military Time Instead of 8:00 PM?
Military time was invented to minimize confusion when telling the time. It helps to clearly differentiate between 8:00 pm and 8:00 am. For example if an arrival time is stated as 8:00 it’s not immediately clear whether that means 8:00 pm or 8:00 am.
How to Convert 8:00 PM to Military Time
1. Determine if 8:00 pm is before or after midday
We can tell this by looking at whether the time is followed by am or pm. P.M. is an abbrevation of post meridiem, which is Latin for after midday. That means 8:00 pm is after midday.
2. Calculate the hours and minutes since midday
Before we can convert to military time we need to know how much time has passed since midday. At 8:00 pm we know it is 8 hours and 0 minutes since midday.
3. Convert hours to military time
8:00 pm is after midday so we simply take our hours since midday (8) and add 12 to get the military time in hours. That means the military time in hours is 20.
4. Combine the hours and the minutes
The military time in minutes is the number of minutes calculated in step two which is 0, and then converted to two digits, 00. Military time is given as four digits with the hours first, so the military time for 8:00 pm is 2000.
What Time is 8:00 PM in Military Time?
The military time for 8:00 pm is 2000. In some situations you may also need to state the military time zone. If you are stating the time in your local time zone the full military time for 8:00 pm would be 2000J (J for Juliet). More commonly the time is quoted as 2000Z (Z for Zulu) which indicates 8:00 pm in the UTC time zone.
How do you say 8:00 PM in Military Time?
When you are saying 8:00 pm in military time you should state the digits 2000 as twenty hundred hours. In some cases it is not necessary to finish the message with hours. If it is recommend to observe a military time zone you might say 2000Z as twenty hundred hours Zulu time or simply twenty hundred Zulu.