You could just pass in self if you have to have two variables but I don't know why you need the two variables because you could do t.isAfter(t1) If you have to have two variables you should move the isAfter function out of the class and have it accept your time class as arguments so you could just call it like isAfter(t,t1) Of course the problem is your function will not work because you need to individually compare all of the hour, minute, and seconds of the first time with that of the second time so the function would have to be changed to work. From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of edward Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:48 PM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Python question hello all I am trying to check if one time comes immediately after another. I wrote a method called isAfter. the problem is how do I use it. meaning to use a method in python the syntax is x.isAfter but I have two variables not one. so I need to x's. edward code starts class WhatTime: def __init__(self, hour,minute,second): self.second=second self.minute=minute self.hour=hour def isAfter(self,t1,t2): check=t2-t1 return 1 in check def __str__(self): return "the time is: "+str(self.hour)+":"+str(self.minute)+" "+str(self.second) t=WhatTime(10,25,43) print t t1=WhatTime(10,12,13) t2=WhatTime(10,12,14) isAfter