Telling Time

1. ¿Qué Hora Es? (What Time Is It?)

When giving the current time in Spanish, there are certain steps for you to follow:

step by step

1. Start your sentence with Son las..., unless you are starting with one o'clock, in which case you would say, Es la una: Es la una. Son las dos. Son las tres. "Son las" is used with all of the plural hours.
2. State the nearest hour. If it is 4:15, you would begin your phrase, "Son las cuatro...." If it is 4:45, you would begin your phrase "Son las cinco...."
3. Connect the hour and the minutes with either: y (and) or menos (minus). If it is the first half of the hour (from one minute to thirty minutes past), then you will use "y." If it is the second half of the hour, you will use "menos." Using the above examples, 4:15 would be "Son las cuatro y..." and 4:45 would be "Son las cinco menos."
4. Next, you need to state the number of minutes either after the hour or before the hour that you stated (the latter will require some math!): 4:15 would be "Son las cuatro y quince" and 4:45 would be "Son las cinco menos quince."
5. Finally, add any descriptive phrases you'd like. You will find these in the list below, along with some other helpful expressions you can use when talking about time.

Additionally, there is an easier, more casual way of telling time. You can simply state the hour and then add the number of minutes.

EXAMPLE

4:50 could be stated as "Son las cuatro y cincuenta."

Some Spanish speakers will use para when subtracting minutes from the next hour and stating the minutes.

EXAMPLE

Instead of "Son las siete menos diez," they might say, "Son las diez para siete," which would translate to "It’s ten till seven" or "It’s ten of seven."

did you know

Many digital clocks in Spanish-speaking countries and many schedules will display military time. At 1:00 p.m., the military time would display as 13:00 and so on until 24:00, which is midnight.

2. Describing Time

In Spanish, they do not say a.m. or p.m. to describe the part of day. Instead, you will choose from:

• De la mañana
• De la tarde
• De la noche

The following table lists descriptive phrases and other helpful expressions you can use when talking about time.

3. ¿A Qué Hora? (At What Time?)

When telling someone at what hour something will occur, you can start by following the exact same steps as above and using the same list of expressions to help you.

However, instead of beginning your sentence with "Es la..." or "Son las...," you will begin your sentence with A la... or A las....

The following dialogue demonstrates a typical exchange between a patient and a nurse.

Nurse: ¡Hola! ¡Buenas tardes! (Hello! Good afternoon!)
Patient: ¿Puedo hacer una cita? (Can I make an appointment?)
Nurse: Sí, pero estoy ocupada ahora. (Yes, but I’m busy right now.)
Patient: Pues, ¿qué hora es? (Well, what time is it?)
Nurse: Ahora, son las cuatro y veinte. (Now, it’s 4:20.)
Patient: ¿Y a qué hora puedo volver? (And at what time can I return?)
Nurse: ¿Pudiera volver a las seis menos cuarto? (Could you please return at 5:45?)
Patient: Okay. (Okay.)
Nurse: Gracias. ¡Hasta luego! (Thank you. See you later!)