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| What time is it? | ¿Qué hora es? |
| It is one o'clock. | Es la una. |
| It is two (three, four, etc.) o'clock. | Son las dos (tres, cuatro, etc.) |
To tell time in Spanish, start with Son las and add the number of the hour. The exception is one o'clock: Es la una.
| It is a quarter past one. | Es la una y cuarto. |
| It is half past one. | Es la una y media. |
| It is 8:15. | Son las ocho y cuarto. |
| It is 10:30. | Son las diez y media. |
To express a quarter past the hour, add y cuarto to the hour; to express half the past hour, add y media to the hour.
Write in Spanish.
| It is 9:15. | _____________________________ |
| It is 12:30. | _____________________________ |
| It is 7:30. | _____________________________ |
| It is 1:15. | _____________________________ |
| It is ten (minutes) past one. (It is 1:10.) | Es la una y diez. |
| It is twenty (minutes) past nine. (It is 9:20.) | Son las nueve y veinte |
| It is seventeen (minutes) after two. (It is 2:17.) | Son las dos diez y siete (y diecisiete). |
To express time past or after the hour (but not beyond the half-hour), add y and the number of minutes.
Write in Spanish.
| It is 6:25. | _____________________________ |
| It is 1:13. | _____________________________ |
| It is 11:11. | _____________________________ |
| It is 3:02. | _____________________________ |
| It is 9:28. | _____________________________ |
| It is a quarter to ten. (It is 9:45.) | Son las diez menos cuarto. |
| It is five (minutes) to three. (It is 2:55.) | Son las tres menos cinco. |
| It is twenty (minutes) to one. (It is 12:40.) | Es la una menos veinte. |
To express time after the half-hour, start with the next hour and subtract the number of minutes for that next hour. Remember to start with the coming hour. (It is 11:50 is the same as It is ten minutes to twelve: Son las doce menos diez.)
Write in Spanish.
| It is twelve minutes to four. | _____________________________ |
| It is 7:43. | _____________________________ |
| It is 12:52. | _____________________________ |
| It is quarter to two. | _____________________________ |
| It is 6:00 A.M. | Son las seis de la mañana. |
| It is 1:00 P.M. | Es la una de la tarde. |
| It is 10:20 P.M. | Son las diez y veinte de la noche. |
| It is 12:00 noon. | Es melodía. |
| It is 12:00 midnight. | Es medianoche. |
Between 12:01 A.M. and noon, we add de la mañana to the time to indicate A.M.
Between 12:00 noon and nightfall, we add de la tarde to indicate P.M. From nightfall to midnight, we add de la noche to indicate P.M.
Noon is mediodía; midnight is medianoche.
In Spanish-speaking countries, it is actual darkness that determines whether the afternoon has ended. Thus, if there is still light in the sky, 7:30 P.M. will be expressed as "las siete y media de la tarde."
Write in Spanish.
| It is 10:30 A.M. | _____________________________ |
| It is 5:10 P.M. | _____________________________ |
| It is 11:45 P.M. | _____________________________ |
| It is 12:00 noon. | _____________________________ |
| It is 6:50 P.M. (not dark yet) | _____________________________ |
| At what time do you return home? | ¿A qué hora vuelves a casa? |
| I return home at 5:00. | Vuelvo a casa a las cinco |
| The class begins at 1:10. | La clase empieza a la una y diez. |
| At noon we have lunch in school. | A mediodía almorzamos en la escuela. |
| At midnight we are sleeping. | A medianoche dorminos. |
To express at with the hour, use a: a la una (at one o'clock), etc.
A common mistake is to confuse the answers to ¿a qué hora? and ¿Qué hora es? The answer to the first question requires a ("¿A qué hora vienes?" "Vengo a las tres."). The answer to the second begins with Es or Son ("¿Que hora es?" "Son las tres.").
Write in Spanish.
| at four fifteen | _____________________________ |
| at 7:30 | _____________________________ |
| at 1:55 P.M. | _____________________________ |
| at 10:14 A.M. | _____________________________ |
| at midnight | _____________________________ |
| It is eight o'clock sharp. | Son las ocho en punto. |
| We are arriving on time. | Llegamos a tiempo. |
| It is late. | Es tarde. |
| It is early. | Es temprano. |
| We study in the morning (in the afternoon, in the evening). | Estudiamos por la mañana (por la tarde, por la noche). |
The phrases por la mañana, por la tarde, etc., refer to parts of
the day and are not used after expressions of clock time.
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