Twelve hour clock: half past

What time is it?

To the Russian way of thinking, the first hour of the day is the sixty minutes from midnight up to (but not including) one a.m. The second hour is between one and two. Therefore when saying "It is now 7:30" in Russian you literally say "half of the eighth." For example:

Сейчас половина третьего.It is now half past two.
Сейчас половина третьего дня.It is now half past two in the afternoon.
Сейчас половина двенадацатого.It is now half past eleven.
Сейчас половина двенадацатого вечера.It is now half past eleven at night."

Here's the complete list of typical responses for the half hour.

Сейчас половина первого.It is half past twelve.
Сейчас половина второго.It is half past one.
Сейчас половина третьего.It is half past two.
Сейчас половина четвёртого.It is half past three.
Сейчас половина пятого.It is half past four.
Сейчас половина шестого.It is half past five.
Сейчас половина седьмого.It is half past six.
Сейчас половина восьмого.It is half past seven.
Сейчас половина девятого.It is half past eight.
Сейчас половина десятого.It is half past nine.
Сейчас половина одиннадцатого.It is half past ten.
Сейчас половина двенадцатого.It is half past eleven.

There is also an abbreviated way of saying the same thing where «пол» a morpheme meaning “half,” combines with the genitive ordinal number to make a single word that indicates half past the hour. That's right: Russian has a single word that means “one thirty,” and another one that means “two thirty,” etc. Here's a complete listing.

Сейчас полпервого.It is half past twelve.
Сейчас полвторого.It is half past one.
Сейчас полтретьего.It is half past two.
Сейчас полчетвёртого.It is half past three.
Сейчас полпятого.It is half past four.
Сейчас полшестого.It is half past five.
Сейчас полседьмого.It is half past six.
Сейчас полвосьмого.It is half past seven.
Сейчас полдевятого.It is half past eight.
Сейчас полдесятого.It is half past nine.
Сейчас полодиннадцатого.It is half past ten.
Сейчас полдвенадцатого.It is half past eleven.