Você pode usar algo assim:
function displaytime {
local T=$1
local D=$((T/60/60/24))
local H=$((T/60/60%24))
local M=$((T/60%60))
local S=$((T%60))
(( $D > 0 )) && printf '%d days ' $D
(( $H > 0 )) && printf '%d hours ' $H
(( $M > 0 )) && printf '%d minutes ' $M
(( $D > 0 || $H > 0 || $M > 0 )) && printf 'and '
printf '%d seconds\n' $S
}
Exemplos:
$ displaytime 11617
3 hours 13 minutes and 37 seconds
$ displaytime 42
42 seconds
$ displaytime 666
11 minutes and 6 seconds