Best Answer: 5:00 starts evening and 8:00 starts night. I hear people say both 5:00 in the evening and 7:00 in the evening but it's always 8:00 at night. Afternoon 1:00 to 5:00 Evening!!! I don't think theres any written rule. I would say afternoon ends at 4:59 and evening begins at 5:00 though. At the time of sunset in our part of the world.