Telling The Time in Spanish

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

To ask for the time you say .
Qu hora es? = What time is it?

NB: Its not very common but in some places
you may hear qu 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 oclock and son for
two to twelve oclock.
Es la una = Its one oclock

Son las dos = Its two oclock

Son las tres = Its three oclock

Son las doce = Its twelve oclock

So how would you say
Its eight oclock?

Son las ocho = Its 8 oclock

And what about . Its one oclock?

Thats right . Es la una.
If you give a specific hour but want to
clarify whether its the morning or
afternoon you add .

de la maana = 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 maana.
Its six a.m. in the morning.

Son las cuatro de la tarde.
Its four p.m. in the afternoon.

Son las ocho de la noche.
Its 8 p.m. in the evening.

And when it comes to twelve oclock
you can also say

Es el medioda.
= Its noon / midday
Or Es la medianoche.
= Its midnight.

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 dont mention the hour or any specific
time you would use por instead of de to say in
the morning, afternoon, or evening .

Es difcil despertarlo por la maana .
Its hard to get him up in the morning.

Al da siguiente por la maana .
The next morning (lit. the next day in the morning)
Los minutos
The minutes

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

Son las diez y diez. = Its ten past ten.

Son las tres y cuatro.
Its four past three.

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

Son las diez y cuarto. Son las diez y media.
After half past you can use menos to say how
many minutes are remaining before the next hour.

Eg. If its twenty to twelve you can say
its twelve minus twenty.

That is . son las doce menos veinte

Or, just as in English, you can express
time after half past numerically.
Son las once y cuarenta. Its 11.40.
To ask at what time will something
happen you say .

A qu hora .?

A qu hora vienen?
At what time are they coming?

A qu 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 oclock.
A las dos. At two oclock.
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 oclock on the dot.
A las cinco de la maana.
At 5 oclock in the morning.

A las diez de la noche.
At ten oclock at night.

Or you might answer with
tarde late
temprano early
en una hora in an hour
dentro de un rato in a while
dentro de media hora in half an hours time
en media hora in half an hour
antes de las cinco before five oclock
despus de las siete after seven oclock

To talk about the time in the past use
era or eran to mean it was.

Era la una. It was one oclock.
Eran las dos. It was two oclock.
Eran las doce. It was twelve oclock.
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 oclock when she arrived.
It was three oclock in the afternoon.
She left twenty minutes ago.
Five oclock on the dot!
Its twenty five past four.
At nine oclock.
At a quarter to ten.
At nine p.m.

It was one oclock when she arrived. = Era la una cuando ella lleg.
It was three oclock in the afternoon. = Eran las tres de la tarde.
She left twenty minutes ago. = Se fue hace veinte minutos.
Five oclock on the dot! = A las cinco en punto.
Its twenty five past four. = Son las cuatro y veinte cinco.
At nine oclock. = 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!

Telling The Time in Spanish

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Aprender a decir la hora en espaol

Learn to tell the time in Spanish

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