How To Tell Time in Spanish

You can tell time in Spanish if you can count to 29 and learn a handful of words. Its that easy. Basic Rules for Telling Time in Spanish The basic way of telling time in Spanish is to use the singular form of ser (to be), which is es, for one oclock and the plural form, son, for other times. Minutes can be stated simply by separating them from the hour using y, the word for and. Es la una. (It is 1:00.)Es la una y dos. (It is 1:02.)Son las dos. (It is 2:00.)Son las tres. (It is 3:00.)Son las seis y cinco. (It is 6:05.)Son las siete y diez. (It is 7:10.)Son las once y diecinueve. (It is 11:19.) To indicate the half hour, use media (a word for half). Use cuarto (meaning fourth) to indicate the quarter hours. Es la una y media. (It is 1:30.)Son las cuatro y media. (It is 4:30.)Es la una y cuarto. (It is 1:15.) It is customary to use menos (a cognate of minus) to tell time during the second half of each hour, stating the number of minutes until the following hour. Es la una menos diez. (It is 12:50. It is 10 until 1.)Son las cinco menos cinco. (It is 4:55. It is 5 until 5.)Son las diez menos veinte. (It is 9:40. It is 20 until 10.)Son las ocho menos cuarto. (It is 7:45. It is quarter until 8.) Key Takeaways: Telling Time in Spanish The most common way of telling time on the hour in Spanish follows the pattern of es la una for 1:00 and son las [number] for later times.For incremental times, add y [number of minutes up to 29] after the hour and menos [number of minutes up to 29] before the hour.You can also use media and cuarto for the half-hours and quarter-hours, respectively. How To Include Time Periods of the Day In most of the Spanish-speaking world, both 12-hour and 24-hour clocks are used, the latter being common in schedules and similar printed materials. To indicate time of day when using the 12-hour clock, use de la madrugada for the wee hours of the morning, de la maà ±ana from then until noon (mediodà ­a or el mediodà ­a), de la tarde between noon and early evening, and de la noche from evening to  midnight (medianoche or la medianoche). Es la medianoche. (Its midnight.)Son las siete y cuarto de la maà ±ana. (Its 7:15 a.m. It is 7:15 in the morning.)Es el mediodà ­a. (Its noon.)Son las cuatro menos cinco de la tarde. (Its 3:55 p.m. It is 5 before 4 in the afternoon.)Son las ocho y media de la noche. (Its 8:30 p.m. It is 8:30 at night.) The abbreviations a.m. (from the Latin ante meridiem) and p.m. (from the Latin post meridiem) can also be used as in English. Son las 4 y media a.m. (It is 4:30 a.m.)Son las 2 p.m. (It is 2 p.m.) Time in the Past, Future, and Subjunctive When talking about the time that events took place, use the imperfect tense of ser. Era la una y cuatro de la madrugada. (It was 1:15 in the morning.)Era la medianoche. (It was midnight.)Eran las once de la noche. (It was 11 at night.) The simple future tense or periphrastic future can be used if the event has yet to occur: El funeral serà ¡ el mediodà ­a del mià ©rcoles. (The funeral will be at noon on Wednesday.)Pronto van a ser las tres de la maà ±ana. (Soon it will be 3 a.m.)La hora local serà ¡ las cuatro de la tarde. (The local time will be 4 p.m.) The subjunctive mood can also be used as needed: Esperamos que sea la una. (We hope its 1 oclock.)Tengo miedo que sean las seis y media. (Im afraid it is 6:30.)Jenny ansiaba que fueran las tres de la tarde. (Jenny was worried that it was 3 p.m.) Other Time Expressions Here are time-related expressions and words that can be useful: Son las tres y cuarto en punto. (Its 3:15 exactly.)Son las seis y media mà ¡s o menos. (Its about 6:30.)Salimos a las nueve. (We are leaving at 9:00.)Buenos dà ­as. (Good day, good morning.)Buenas tardes. (Good afternoon, good evening (until about 8 p.m.).)Buenas noches.(Good evening, good night (as either a greeting or a farewell).) ¿Quà © hora es? (What time is it?) ¿A quà ©Ã‚  hora ...? (At what time ... ?) ¿Cuà ¡ndo ...? (When ... ?)el tiempo (time)el reloj (clock)el despertador, la alarma (alarm clock)el reloj, el reloj de pulsera (wristwatch) Sample Sentences Los Bombers de Mallorca llegaron a la zona a las dos y media de la tarde. (The Mallorca Bombers arrive in the area at 2:30 p.m.) Era mà ¡s oscuro que la medianoche. (It was darker than midnight.) La clase comienza a las 10 de la maà ±ana y termina a mediodà ­a. (The class begins at 10 a.m. and ends at noon.) El sà ¡bado tengo que levantarme a las cinco y media de la maà ±ana. (On Saturday I have to get up at 5:30 a.m.) Eran las siete de la tarde y no habà ­a nadie. (It was 7 p.m. and there was nobody there.)