Spanish One

Time To Tell

In Spanish, telling time works a little differently. Read the information below, and do the exercises in the comments.

1:00 = Es la una.
2:00 = Son las dos.
3:00 = Son las tres.
4:00 = Son las cuatro.
5:00 = Son las cinco.
6:00 = Son las seis.
7:00 = Son las siete.
8:00 = Son las ocho.
9:00 = Son las nueve.
10:00 = Son las diez.
11:00 = Son las once.
12:00 = Son las catorce.

Also, the Spanish language has special names for noon and midnight.

It's noon/midday = Es mediodía.
It's midnight = Es midianoche.

In the picture above, you can see how the details of Spanish time telling work.

For instance, if you wanted to say that it was three twenty-five, you would say "Son las tres y veinticinco." This directly translates to "Are the three and twenty-five."

One O'clock to one fifty-nine is a little different from the rest of the pack. Instead of saying "Son las una y dos." (uno turns to una when telling time) you always say "Es la una y dos." (1:02).

When you're saying 1:15, 3:15, 4:15, 8:15 and so on, you don't say "Son las cuatro y quince." You say "Son las cuatro y cuarto." And yes, those are different words. They're just spelled extremely alike. In Spanish, 'cuarto' means 'quarter'. Like a quarter of an hour. So "Cuatro y cuarto" means "Four and quarter." aka- 4:15.

The 'thirty' part of five-thirty, seven-thirty, eleven-thirty and so on in Spanish has it's own name, just like 'cuarto'. It's media. Middle.

2:30 = Dos y media.
6:30 = Seis y media.
12:30 = Doce y media.
It is 1:30 = Es la una y media.
It is 5:30 = Son las cinco y media.

Now is when it starts to get a little bit tricky. From whatever-thirty to whatever-fifty-nine, you don't do the whole 'y whatever' thing. You subtract, not add.

For example, ten-fifty would be "Once menos diez." This directly translates to "Eleven minus ten." as, if you are at 11:00 and subtract ten minutes, what do you get? 10:50.

It is like this for all of the time being told from whatever-thirty to whatever-fifty-nine, except for one exception: whatever:45. You never say "Once menos quince." You say "Once menos cuarto." (10:45) It's just like whatever-fifteen with the whole quarter concept.

1:31 = Dos menos veintinueve.
1:45 = Dos menos cuarto.
2:40 = Tres menos veinte.
3:50 = Cuatro menos diez.
4:55 = Cinco menos cinco.
5:59 = Seis menos uno.
7:46 = Ocho menos catorce.
9:10 = Nueve y diez.

Review:

How do you say "What time is it?" in Spanish? - ¿Qué hora es?

What are two words for "it is" when saying "it is one o'clock"? - Es la

What are two words for "it is" when saying any other hour? - Son las

How do you say "it is noon"? - Es mediodía.

How do you say "it is midnight"? - Es medianoche.

How do you say "a quarter after" and "half past" in Spanish?

a quarter after: y cuarto
half past: y media

Practice:

1. What do the following times mean?

1. (Ex.) Son las diez y media. =
It is 10:30.

2. Son las cinco y cuarto. =
__________.

3. Son las siete y media. =
__________.

4. Son las tres y cuarto. =
__________.

5. Son las ocho y media. =
__________.

2. Tell the time in Spanish.

1. (Ex.) It's 1:15. =
Es la una y cuarto.

2. It's 2:30. =
____________.

3. It's 3:00. =
____________.

4. It's 4:15. =
____________.

5. It's 11:30. =
____________.

3. Say these times in Spanish.

1. It's 3:10. =
____________.

2. It's 5:17. =
____________.

3. It's 8:28. =
____________.

4. Say these times in Spanish. Don't forget that after the half-hour mark, you subtract the number of minutes from the next hour!

1. (Ex.) It's 2:36. =
Son las tres menos veinte y cuatro.

2. It's 7:58. =
_______________.

3. It's 3:40. =
_______________.

4. It's 6:50. =
_______________.

One additional factor about telling time in Spanish is for the A.M. and P.M:

-A.M. or "in the morning" is de la mañana.

-P.M. or "in the afternoon" is de la tarde.

-P.M. or "in the evening" is de la noche.

Examples:

It's 5:00 A.M. = Son las cinco de la mañana.

It's 3:00 P.M. = Son las tres y media de la tarde.

It's 9:15 P.M. = Son las nueve y cuarto de la noche.

Key:

1.
1. It is 10:30.
2. It is 5:15.
3. It is 7:30.
4. It is 3:15.
5. It is 8:30.

2.
1. Es la una y cuarto.
2. Son las dos y media.
3. Son las tres.
4. Son las cuatro y cuarto.
5. Son las once y media.

3.
1. Son las tres y diez.
2. Son las cinco y diez y dos.
3. Son las ocho y veinte y ocho.

4.
1. Son las tres menos veinte y cuatro.
2. Son las ocho menos dos.
3. Son las cuarto menos veinte.
4. Son las siete menos diez.