The time can be told in different ways in Spanish. You need just a few phrases and a simple conjugation to learn how to do that.
How to Tell Time in Spanish?
Rule 1. To ask the time in Spanish, use the phrase ¿Qué hora es?
In everyday speech, you can also hear speakers say ¿Qué horas son?
Other ways to ask the time
| Asking for the time | Translation |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué hora tienes? | What time do you have? |
| ¿A qué hora quedamos? | What time do we meet? |
| ¿A qué hora empieza la clase? | What time does the class start? |
| ¿Cuándo es la reunión? | When is the meeting? |
Form
Rule 2. To tell the time, you need to things: the verb ser and the definite articles.
To say any hour (except 1:00), use the following structure:
| Verb "to be" in plural | Definite article feminine plural | The time |
|---|---|---|
| Son | las | 2:00 p.m. |
| Son | las | 5:30 p.m. |
For 1:00, the structure changes a little.
| Verb to be in singular | Definite article feminine singular | The time |
|---|---|---|
| Es | la | 1:00 p.m. |
| Es | la | 1:15 p.m. |
How to Tell the Minutes?
Rule 3. To tell the minutes, there are two different structures. For the sake of time-telling, the clock is divided into the first half-hour and the second half-hour.
The following structure is used for the first half-hour:
- Hour + y + minutes
| Time | Complete expression | Spain | Latin America |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | son las tres en punto | son las tres | son las tres |
| 3:10 | son las tres y diez minutos | son las tres y diez | son las tres y diez |
| 3:15 | son las tres y quince minutos | son las tres y cuarto | son las tres y cuarto |
| 3:20 | son las tres y veinte minutos | son las tres y veinte | son las tres y veinte |
| 3:30 | son las tres y treinta minutos | son las tres y media | son las tres y media |
The following structures are used for the second half-hour:
- son + la, las + next hour + menos + minutes left until the next hour
- son + minutes left until the next hour + para + la, las + next hour
| Time | Complete expression | Spain | Latin America |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:40 | son las tres y cuarenta minutos | son las siete menos veinte | son veinte para las siete |
| 3:45 | son las tres y cuarenta y cinco minutos | son las siete menos cuarto | son cuarto para las siete |
| 6:50 | son las seis y cincuenta minutos | son las siete menos diez | son diez para las siete |
For Appointments or Meetings
Rule 4. When we are going to meet a person at a certain time, the answer will be a little different than when we directly answer the question ¿Qué hora es? The following structure is used to tell the time of an event:
- preposition a + la, las + time
The temporal expressions "a.m." and "p.m." let you know what time of day you are talking about.
Rule 5. To express that an event goes from a certain time to another specific time, use de la, las… a la, las…
Other Useful Expressions
Rule 6. You can use the following time expressions to indicate a certain part of the day.
| Time expression | Translation |
|---|---|
| de la mañana | in the morning |
| de la tarde | in the afternoon |
| del mediodía | at noon |
| de la noche | at night |
| de la madrugada | in the early morning |
Quiz
1/3¿Qué hora es? (3:15)