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Telling Time by Cari Luna

Okay, so you've learned your numbers in Spanish. Now what? One of the handy things you can do with this newfound knowledge is telling time, or more likely, understand the answer when you ask a Spanish-speaker what time it is. Remember that you need to use the verb ser when talking about time.

Asking ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?) literally means, “What hour is it?” That means that the verb in the answer needs to agree with the number of hours that it is:

Es la una.

It's one o'clock.

Son las dos.

It's two o'clock.

It's also common for people to use the expression ¿Qué horas son? This is equally correct. Note also that the hour of day is a feminine noun and so takes the feminine article la.

ALERT!

Remember that verbs must agree with nouns, even when telling time. So, “it's one o'clock” is es la una, but “it's two o'clock” is son las dos.

Time of Day

Here are some model phrases for telling the time of day:

It's noon.

Es el mediodía.

ehs ehl meh-dee-oh-DEE-ah

It's midnight.

Es la medianoche.

ehs lah meh-dee-ah-NOH-cheh

It's 1:00.

Es la una.

ehs lah OO-nah

It's 2:00.

Son las dos.

sohn lahs dohs

It's 3:05.

Son las tres y cinco.

sohn lahs trehs ee SEEN-koh

It's 4:10.

Son las cuatro y diez.

sohn lahs KWAH-troh ee dee-EHS

It's 5:15.

Son las cinco y cuarto.

sohn lahs SEEN-koh ee KWAHR-toh

It's 6:20.

Son las seis y veinte.

sohn lahs sehys ee VEHYN-teh

It's 7:25.

Son las siete y veinticinco.

sohn lahs see-EH-teh ee vehyn-tee-SEEN-koh

It's 8:30.

Son las ocho y media.

sohn lahs OH-choh ee MEH-dee-ah

It's 9:35.

Son las diez menos veinticinco.

sohn lahs dee-EHS MEH-nohs-vehyn-tee-SEEN-koh

It's 10:40.

Son las once menos veinte.

sohn lahs OHN-seh MEH-nohs VEHYN-teh

It's 11:45.

Son las doce menos cuarto.

sohn lahs DOH-seh MEH-nohs KWAHR-toh

It's 12:50.

Es la una menos diez.

ehs lah OO-nah MEH-nohs dee-EHS

It's 1:55.

Son las dos menos cinco.

sohn lahs dohs MEH-nohs SEEN-koh

Other Time Phrases <tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="center"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="center"/> <tbody> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>in the morning</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>por la mañana</emphasis></p> <p>pohr lah mah-NYAH-nah</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>in the afternoon</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>por la tarde</emphasis></p> <p>pohr lah TAHR-deh</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>in the evening</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>por la noche</emphasis></p> <p>pohr lah NOH-cheh</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>At what time?</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>¿A qué hora?</emphasis></p> <p>ah keh OH-rah</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>Since what time?</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>¿Desde qué hora?</emphasis></p> <p>DEHS-deh keh OH-rah</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>Since two.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Desde las dos.</emphasis></p> <p>DEHS-deh lahs dohs</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>A half-hour ago.</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>Hace media hora.</emphasis></p> <p>AH-seh MEH-dee-ah OH-rah</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>a second</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>un segundo</emphasis></p> <p>oon seh-GOON-doh</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>a minute</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>un minuto</emphasis></p> <p>oon mee-NOO-toh</p></td> </tr> <tr> <entry valign="top"><p>an hour</p></td> <td><p><emphasis>una hora</emphasis></p> <p>OO-nah OH-rah</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <!--/gc--> <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/spanish-phrases/a-day-at-a-time/count-on-it.htm" title="Count on It">Count on It</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/spanish-phrases/a-day-at-a-time/days-of-the-week-months-of-the-year.htm" title="Days of the Week, Months of the Year">Days of the Week, Months of the Year</a> </li></ul></div></div> <div id="coda"> 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