Aprender a decir la hora en españolLearn to tell the time in Spanish

To ask for the time you say ….¿Qué hora es? = What time is it?

NB: It’s not very common but in some places you may hear ‘qué hora son?’ instead.

You can also say ….

Por favor, ¿me puede dar la hora?Can you please tell me the time?

To tell the time in Spanish you use the verb ‘ser’.

You use ‘es’ for ‘one o’clock and ‘son’ for ‘two’ to ‘twelve o’clock’.

Es la una = It’s one o’clock

Son las dos = It’s two o’clock

Son las tres = It’s three o’clock

Son las doce = It’s twelve o’clock

So how would you say …

It’s eight o’clock?

Son las ocho = It’s 8 o’clock

And what about …. It’s one o’clock?

¡Bien hecho! Well done!

That’s right …. Es la una.

If you give a specific hour but want to clarify whether it’s the morning or

afternoon you add ….

de la mañana = a.m. (in the morning)de la tarde = p.m. (in the afternoon)de la noche = p.m. (in the evening)

Son las seis de la mañana.It’s six in the morning. / It’s six a.m.

Son las cuatro de la tarde. It’s 4 in the afternoon. / It’s 4 p.m.

Son las ocho de la noche.It’s eight (o’clock) in the evening. / It’s 8 p.m.

And when it comes to twelve o’clock you can either say …

Es mediodía.= It’s noon / midday

- if it’s lunchtime during the day

Or …… Es medianoche.= It’s midnight.

- if it’s the middle of the night

If you want to talk about the very early hours of the morning you say

‘de la madrugada’

Son las cuatro de la madrugada.

NB: If you don’t mention the hour or any specific time you would use ‘por’ instead of ‘de’ to say ‘in

the morning, afternoon, or evening’ .

Es difícil despertarlo por la mañana .It’s hard to get him up in the morning.

Al día siguiente por la mañana ….The next morning … (lit. on the next day in the morning)

What about ‘en’ la mañana?To say‘in the morning’ (when no specific hour is mentioned) ‘por la

mañana’ and ‘en la mañana’ are both correct.

‘En’ la mañana is definitely more common in parts of Latin America than in Spain but its use is also accepted by *RAE.

The Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for overseeing the Spanish language. See point no. 6 for ‘en’ la mañana - http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=mañana

Los minutosThe minutes

Use ‘y’ (and) when you would say how many minutes ‘past’ the hour you are in English.

Son las diez y diez. = It’s ten past ten.

Son las tres y cuatro.It’s four past three.

Use cuarto y media to say ‘quarter past’ and ‘half past’.

Son las diez y cuarto. Son las diez y media.

For quarter and half past you can also use the number of minutes

Son las diez y quince. Son las diez y treinta.

After ‘half past’ you can use ‘menos’ to say how many minutes are remaining before the next hour.

Eg. If it’s twenty ‘to’ twelve you can say – ‘it’s twelve minus twenty’.

That is …. ‘son las doce menos veinte’

(This is the standard form in Spain but not so common in Latin America)

Or, just as in English, you can express time after half past numerically.

Son las once y cuarenta. It’s 11.40.

Regional DifferencesIf you are travelling in Latin America you may notice that ‘menos’ is rarely if ever

used to tell the time.

Instead, for times after half past the complete number of minutes past the hour is usually used.

Por ejemplo

Es la una menos veintiséis. (Spain)

Son las doce y treinta y cuatro. (Latin America)

‘Para’Another option, instead of ‘menos’ that you could hear in Latin

America is ‘para’ combined with ‘ser’ or ‘faltar’ to say how many minutes remain before the next hour.

This form seems to be more likely with the multiples of 5 after the half hour but it is still not as common as the complete number of

minutes after the hour.

Por ejemplo …If this was the time, in Spain you’d likely hear …

‘Son las once menos veinticinco’.

But in Latin America you could hear any of the following with the first option probably the most common.

‘Son las doce y treinta y cinco’, ‘son veinticinco para la una’ o ‘faltan veinticinco para la una.

So let’s practice using ‘para’ or just the minutes past the hour …

Give three different ways you would be likely to be told the above time in Latin America?

Well done if you said …

Es la una y cincuenta.Son diez para las dos.

Faltan diez para las dos.

To ask ‘at what time’ will something happen you say ….

¿A qué hora ….?

¿A qué hora vienen? At what time are they coming?

¿A qué hora salimos?At what time do we leave?

If you want to say ‘at’ + ‘an hour’ you answer with …

A la or A las …. + the hour.

A la una. At one o’clock.A las dos. At two o’clock.

A las cuatro y cuarto. At quarter past four.A las nueve y media. At nine thirty.

A las once y cincuenta de la noche. At 11.50 pm.

Add ‘en punto’ if you want to say ‘on the dot’

A la una en punto. At one o’clock on the dot.

A las cinco de la mañana.At 5 o’clock in the morning.

So, how would you say ….?At ten o’clock at night.

A las diez de la noche.At ten o’clock at night.

¡Bien hecho!

Some more time expressions …

tarde latetemprano early

en una hora in an hourdentro de un rato in a while

dentro de media hora in about half an houren media hora in half an hour

antes de las cinco before five o’clockdespués de las siete after seven o’clock

To talk about the time in the past use the imperfect tense of ‘ser’ – ie. ‘era’ or ‘eran’ to mean ‘it was’.

Era la una. It was one o’clock.Eran las dos. It was two o’clock.

Eran las doce. It was twelve o’clock.

To talk about time in the future use the future tense of ‘ser’, ie. ‘será’ or ‘serán’ to say ‘it will be’.

En dos horas serán las dos y veinticinco..It will be two twenty five in two hours time.

And to say how long ago something happened use ‘hace’.

Hace cinco minutos. Five minutes ago.Hace una hora. An hour ago.

Hace media hora. Half an hour ago.

So how would you say ….?

It was one o’clock when she arrived.It was three o’clock in the afternoon.

She left twenty minutes ago.Five o’clock on the dot!

It’s twenty five past four.At nine o’clock.

At a quarter to ten.At nine p.m.

It was one o’clock when she arrived. = Era la una cuando ella llegó.It was three o’clock in the afternoon. = Eran las tres de la tarde.

She left twenty minutes ago. = Se fue hace veinte minutos.At five o’clock on the dot! = A las cinco en punto.

It’s twenty five past four. = Son las cuatro y veinte cinco.At nine o’clock. = A las nueve.

At a quarter to ten. = A las diez menos quince. or A las nueve y cuarenta y cinco.At nine p.m. = A las nueve de la tarde.

So now you should be set to tell the time in Spanish!