Do you hyphenate 30 minutes

Answer 1

Sure, honey, you hyphenate "30 minutes" when it's being used as an adjective before a noun, like "a 30-minute workout." But if it's just hanging out by itself, no need for that hyphen. Keep it sassy, darling!

Answer 2

You do not hyphenate 30 minutes, as in "She took thirty minutes to finish her test."

You do, however, hyphenate 30-minute as in, "She took the thirty-minute exam."


The distinction is that in this latter case 'thirty-minute' is used as a compound adjective (describing the timed exam) whereas in the first example 'thirty' is an adjective describing 'minutes'.


An easier way to remember it is that you only hyphenate when the adjectives are acting together for a single purpose (such as modifying a single word together).