Telling time in Spanish

Telling time in Spanish

by Pedro Eguez

​Que hora es? What time is it?

​Es la una en punto. It is one o'clock on the dot.

​* Any time that falls from 1:00(pm) or (am) to 1:59 (pm) or (am) then you always must use the beginning of the answer " Es la " because the answer is in the singular digit.

​Por ejemplo; 1:30 pm is pronounced or written in the following manner:

​Es la una y media de la tarde. It is one thirty in the afternoon.

​Que hora es? What time is it?

​Son las cinco en punto. It is five o'clock on the dot.

​Any other digit on the clock before and after one o'clock are all plural digits and the must be answered with "son las"

​Por ejemplo; 5:30 pm is pronounced or written in the following manner:

Son las cinco y media de la tarde. It is five thirty in the afternoon.

​***That is why sometime you may also hear people ask "Que hora son"

​Write out the following times using the information we just learned:

​

a) 1:05

​b) 2:15

​c) 4:25

​d) 6:19

​e) 8:11

​Answers from the previous slide:

​A. Es la una y cinco.

​B. Son las dos y cuarto or Son las dos y quince.

​C. Son las cuatro veinticinco.

​D. Son las seis y diecinueve

​E. Son las ocho y once.

​Telling time in Spanish after the thirty minute on the clock goes as plan:

​Option #1...

​This formula can be used to say It's (# of minutes) until/'til (a certain hour).

es + la + una + menos + number of minutes

​son + las + dos + menos + number of unites

​

​Por ejemplo,

5:35: Son las seis menos veinticinco. It is six minus twenty five.

​Because 25 minutes minus 6:00 gives you 5:35

​

​Por ejemplo,

​12:50: Es la una menos diez. It is ten minus one.

​Because 10 minutes minus 1:00 gives you 12:50

​Other useful phrases for telling time in Spanish:

​12:00am-12:00pm- de la mañana.......(in the morning)

12:00pm-6:59pm- de la tarde.............. (in the afternoon)

7:00pm-11:59pm- de la noche............... (in the night) 

​

​Mediodia= noon or midday 12:00pm

​Medianoche= midnight 12:00 am

​One of the ways that people tell time in Latin America is that they use the

24 Hour Clock or sometimes referred to as Military Time:

For example, 23:00 hours is equal to 11:00pm. 15:00 hours is the same as 3:00pm. The reason this is used is to avoid using the AM or PM.

​The formula you want to use to determine the times into our standard 12 hour clock is the following:

​The example, 23:00 minus (-) 12 equals 11:00 pm

​The example, 15:00 minus (-) 12 equals 3:00 pm