¿Qué hora es? What time is it?
Can you tell time? And most of all in Spanish?
Time is one of the basic knowledge of Spanish language that a Spanish learner needs to acquire immediately at the beginning of one's training.
To be able to tell time in Spanish, be sure to get acquainted with your numbers.
Once you can identify your clock in your first language for example English, you could easily tell time in Spanish correctly. All you have to do is grab some words and expressions which are very useful in telling time in Spanish.
Las palabras y expresiones útiles (Useful words and expressions)
Y - (which literally means "and" but in "Time" context, it means "after")
Menos - (Which literally means "less" but in "Time" context, it means "past or to"
El mediodía - (midday, noon) -12pm
La medianoche - (midnight)- 00:0 or 12am
La madrugada (middle of the night, early morning, dawn)
El amanecer - (dawn, daybreak)
El anochecer - (dusk, nightfall)
p.m. o de la tarde - p.m. (in the afternoon)
a.m. o de la mañana - a.m. (in the morning)
p.m. o de la noche - p.m. (at night)
En punto - (exactly or sharp)
La semana pasada - (last week)
El mes pasado - (last month)
El año pasado - (last year)
La próxima semana, la semana siguiente o la semana que viene (next week)
El mes próximo, el mes siguiente o el mes que viene (next month)
El año próximo, el año siguiente o el año que viene (next month)
El pasado mañana - (next tomorrow or the day after tomorrow)
El mañana - (Tomorrow or future)
La mañana - (Morning)
La tarde - (Afternoon)
La noche - (Evening, Night)
Ayer - (Yesterday)
Anteayer - (The day before yesterday)
Anoche - (Last night)
fin de semana o finde - (weekend)
Semana por medio - (every other week)
Mes por medio - (every other month)
Año por medio - (every other year)
Día por medio - (every other day)
Día a día o de día en día - (from day to day or day by day)
Día tras día - (day after day)
De día o durante el día - (during the day time)
Hoy en día o hoy día - (Nowadays)
Hoy - (Today)
There are different ways of telling time in Spanish, sometimes depending on the region and all forms are correct.
1. When the time is on the dot, time is expressed as: e.g 1:00 - Es la una. O Es la una en punto. O 2:00 - Son las dos. O Son las dos en punto.
2. To express "past" or "after" just use the conjunction "y". E.g 1:15 - Es la una y cuarto o Es la una y quince. O 2:15 - Son las dos y cuarto u Son las dos y quince.
3. To express "to" the approaching time in Spanish, you either say for example: 1:50 - Son las dos menos diez. O When you're on digital time you say 1:50 - Es la una y cincuenta. While in some Spanish countries they use “para” for example: 1:45 - Es un cuarto para las dos, 9:55 - Son cinco para las diez (It's five to 10).
4. To express half past or quarter past or quarter to, use "media" and "cuarto" respectively or “treinta" and “quince". For example: 1:30 - Es la una y media o Es la una y treinta, 2:15 - Son las dos y cuarto u Son las dos y quince. 2:45 - Son las tres menos cuarto u Son las tres menos quince.
5. You'll have to consider that there are two types of hour clock: the 12hr and the 24 hr clock. So, while some countries prefer the 12hr some go for the 24hr clock. For example: 9:15 - Son las nueve y cuarto/quince (this is 12hr) While (24hr is) 21:15 - Son las veintiuno y cuarto/quince.
Otros ejemplos son (Other examples are):
(1:15) 13:15- Son las trece y cuarto.
O Es la una y quince. (It's quarter past one or it's fifteen minutes after one)
(1:30) 13:30 - Son las trece y media.
O Es la una y treinta. (It's half past one or it's one thirty)
(1:45) 13:45 - Son las catorce menos cuarto.
O Son las dos menos quince. (It's quarter to two or it's fifteen minutes to two)
O Es la una y cuarenta y cinco. (It's forty-five minutes after one)
(1:00) 13:00 - Son las trece.
O Es la una en punto. (It's one o'clock sharp)
(2:00) 14:00 - Son las catorce.
O Son las dos en punto. (It's two o'clock sharp)
(2:30) 14:30 - Son las catorce y media.
O Son las dos y treinta. (It's half past two or it's two thirty)
(2:45) 14:45 - Son las quince menos cuarto.
O Son las tres menos quince. (It's quarter to three or it's fifteen minutes to three)
O Son las dos y cuarenta y cinco. (It's 45 minutes after two)
(2:55) 14:55 - Son las catorce menos cinco.
O Son las tres menos cinco. (It's five minutes to three)
O Son las dos y cincuenta y cinco. (It's fifty-five minutes after two)
0:00 - Es la medianoche. (It's midnight)
O Son las doce de la noche. (It's twelve o'clock in the morning)
1:00 - Es la una. (It's one o'clock)
O Es la una en punto.
12:00 -Es el mediodía. (It's midday or noon)
O Son las doce de la mañana. (It's twelve o'clock in the afternoon)
O Son las doce en punto.
¿A qué hora viene? At what time is he coming? - A las cinco de la tarde. (At five p.m)
¿A qué hora sale el tren? At what time does the train leave? - El tren sale a las diez de la mañana. (The train leaves at 10 a.m. or 10 o'clock in the morning)
Mucho ojo:
For the expression “to” in Spanish, one can use menos or “y” (check the examples to find out how)
When you're making use of 12 hour clock setting, make sure to add the time of the day in other to differentiate them; like: 5:00 am - Son las cinco de la mañana.
1:00 am - Es la una de la mañana. 1:00 pm - Es la una de la tarde. 8:00 pm - Son las ocho de la noche.
However when using the 24 hr clock setting, there's no need to add the time of the day since it differentiates itself. Like: 20: 00 - Son las veinte. 15:00 - Son las quince.
To tell times in Spanish, the verb “ser” to be” is used. It is conjugated in the third person singular and plural; es and son. From 1:00 - 1:59 uses singular “es”, and also the expression with "mediodía" and "medianoche". Example: 1:00 - Es la una. 0:00 - Es la medianoche. While the rest from 2:00 uses the plural form of verb “son”. Example: 16:00 - Son las cuatro.
The same thing applies to the articles; the singular conjugation "es" goes with the singular article "la", while the plural conjugation "son" goes with the plural "las".
And remember, la hora (Time) is feminine that's why the articles are "la" and "las" and half past is "media" and not medio. Meanwhile the fixed expression for "Quarter" in Spanish for telling "Time" (en expresiones de tiempo) is "cuarto" and it's masculine.
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