How to Say What Time Is It in Spanish

¿Que hora es? demands an reply! And no, we're not talking about the Mexican soap opera for people who merely had 3 weeks of Spanish in the 4th class (wink wink). In all seriousness, how do you reply to the question that has been on everybody's lips at one point? How practise you tell time in Spanish? Well, it's time (wink wink) to find out.

I know what you think and it'due south true. We're lucky enough to alive in an era of rapid technological advancements. Even if you don't ain a watch, you lot probably have a smartphone. Asking or telling the time in Spanish or any other linguistic communication may seem obsolete. But what if your telephone's bombardment is expressionless? I for 1 had a pretty interesting experience when I had to survive one week without a phone. I kept asking random people the time to make sure I wasn't late and they looked at me like I was some kind of an alien. And so yes, knowing how to tell the time in Spanish can make all the difference!

But offset things first.

¿Que hora es? – how to ask for the time in Spanish

In social club to tell the time in Castilian, you'll first take to learn how to properly ask for the time in Castilian. Yous can never be too cautious. I'm just making sure yous're not missing that fiesta española you spent weeks thinking about!

In addition to the now well-known ¿que hora es? which literally translates to "what hour is it?", y'all can too inquire ¿tiene hora? which is literally "practice yous have the hour?". Piece of cake enough!

The basics of Spanish time

To decir la hora ("tell the time") in Spanish, there are a few elementary rules you'll have to know.

Kickoff of all, always use the verb ser . No, not estar, merely ser. If you lot don't know what Spanish verbs are all near, you might desire to check this petty guide for beginners. To put it simply, time is a permanent entity that requires the apply of the verb ser.

Secondly, call back that merely when talking about one o'clock, you lot'll demand to use the tertiary person atypical class of ser. For all the other eleven hours, yous can safely get with the plural form. Hither's how to tell the time in Spanish if the time is on the hour:

• Es la una. – It'southward ane o'clock.
• Son las dos. – It's two o'clock.
• Son las tres. – It's three o'clock.
• Son las cuatro. – Information technology's 4 o'clock.
• Son las cinco. – It'due south five o'clock.
• Son las seis. – It's 6 o'clock.
• Son las siete. – Information technology's seven o'clock.
• Son las ocho. – It's eight o'clock.
• Son las nueve. – Information technology's ix o'clock.
• Son las diez. – Information technology'southward x o'clock.
• Son las once. – It'southward xi o'clock.
• Son las doce. – It's twelve o'clock.

Equally yous tin see, the feminine article (la/las) is used before the number. Why is that? Well, considering it refers to la hora. Merely again, remember that the singular form la will simply be used in the example of "one o'clock" considering we're talking about a single 60 minutes.

Nota bene: If you adopt to employ the 24-hour clock, you lot should say son las dieciséis ("it'south 16:00") instead of son las cuatro ("information technology'south 4 o'clock p.m."). Merely that will require a little more studying on your part. Don't worry though. Spanish numbers are just as easy every bit learning how to tell the time. Yous can main them with Mondly faster than you can say Jack Robinson. You tin can get started here.

How practise you lot say the time in Spanish subsequently thirty?

Now, the time is not ever on the 60 minutes. And then how practice you say "one-half by", "quarter past" and "quarter to" in Spanish? There are merely two new words you demand to think: media and cuarto .

• If it's half past the hr in Spanish, use the phrase y media ;
• If it'south a quarter past the 60 minutes, use the phrase y cuarto ;
• If it'southward a quarter until the hour, utilize the phrase menos cuarto .

Here are some examples:

• 2:30 – Son las dos y media. – It'southward two thirty.
• ane:15 – Es la una y cuarto. – It'southward one 15.
• 5:45 – Son las seis menos cuarto. – Information technology's a quarter until six.

Telling time in Spanish – a visual guide

Hour + minutes in Spanish time

Wanna exist a little more specific? Here'due south how Castilian time works when you demand to indicate the verbal number of minutes that have past from the 60 minutes.

The simplest formula is es/son + las + hour + number of minutes. For example, if y'all want to say that it's 3:29 , you'll say son las tres veintinueve.

Thus, the aforementioned every bit in English, there will exist two ways in which you tin indicate some hours in Spanish. If it'south eight:15, you can say:

• Son las ocho y cuarto. ("information technology'due south a quarter past viii")
• Son las ocho y quince. ("information technology'due south eight and fifteen minutes")

Different ways of telling time in Spanish

In that location are three formulas of telling time in Spanish. Hither are different ways of telling it's three:10:

• es/son + las + hour + number of minutes – Son las tres diez
• es/son + las + 60 minutes + y + number of minutes – Son las tres y diez
• es/son + las + hr + con + number of minutes – Son las tres con diez

Which 1 exercise you prefer? Additionally, if we also count information technology cuarto and media, there are no less than four different ways to tell the time in Spanish. And you've just mastered them all!

How to indicate the fourth dimension of day in Castilian

If you are using the 12-hr clock, you sometimes might want to too bespeak out the time of mean solar day. For example, "it'due south two in the afternoon" translates to son las dos de la tarde in Spanish. Not too complicated, is it? Hither are some more times of twenty-four hour period that might come in handy:

• mediodía – midday
• mañana – in the morning
• noche – at dark
• madrugada – the middle of the night
• medianoche – midnight
• amanecer – dawn
• tarde – in the afternoon

To indicate that an event occurs at a specific fourth dimension, apply the formula a + la(s) + time: La clase de español empieza a las nueve – "The Spanish grade begins at ix".

Other useful fourth dimension phrases in Spanish

• por la mañana – in the morning
• por la tarde – in the afternoon
• de la tarde – in the afternoon
• al mediodía – at noon
• a la medianoche – at midnight
• por la noche – in the evening or night
• de la noche – in the evening or night
• la mañana – morning or tomorrow
• mañana por la mañana – tomorrow morning
• pasado mañana – the day later tomorrow
• tarde – tardily
• temprano – early
• en punto – exactly or abrupt (sonlas ocho en punto – "information technology'due south exactly eight o'clock")
• ayer – yesterday
• anteayer – the 24-hour interval before yesterday
• anoche – last night
• la noche anterior, anteanoche – the night before
• concluding el lunes que viene – next Monday
• el lunes pasado – last Monday
• la semana que viene – adjacent week
• semana por medio – every other week
• la semana pasada – last week
• el año que viene – next year
• el año pasado – last yr
• durante el día – during the twenty-four hour period

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Source: https://www.mondly.com/blog/2020/06/29/tell-time-spanish-guide-beginners/

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