¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
Hola, ¿qué hora es? - Hello, what time is it?
Son las nueve - Nine o'clock
In this section we will touch on such a useful topic in everyday life as telling time in Spanish. To learn how to navigate the Spanish clock, the knowledge about numerals obtained in lesson 7. This topic itself is easy, and you can master it quickly enough.
First, let's ask the question "What time is it?" in Spanish:
¿Qué hora es? - What time is it?
An approximate answer to this question might be:
Son las ocho - Eight o'clock
Both the question and the answer must contain the verb ser. Only in the answer, if we are talking about all hours except one, we must put the verb ser in the form plural son. Compare:
| 1:00 - Es la una 2:00 - Son las dos 3:00 - Son las tres 4:00 - Son las cuatro etc. |
Hour Two (hours) Three (hours) Four (hours) |
It is also mandatory to use the feminine definite article. In the case of one hour, you need to put the article la, with all other hours - las. This is because the word hora (hour) or horas is implied here. So the complete answers would look like this:
| 1:00 - Es la una hora 2:00 - Son las dos horas 11:00 - Son las once horas |
One hour Two hours Eleven o'clock |
Sometimes they say this too, but more often the word hora is omitted.
We will build on such proposals to clarify the minutes and other details.
To say "exactly" you need to add the connective en punto.
| 2:00 - Son las dos en punto 1:00 - Es la una en punto 7:00 - Son las siete en punto |
Two o'clock exactly Exactly one hour Exactly seven |
Say it yourself in Spanish:
What time is it? - It's three o'clock now
What time is it? - Exactly six
What time is it? - Hour
Move your cursor to check.
Let us now consider cases when the minute hand is on the right side of the dial. In this case, you need to put the conjunction y between the hour and the minute.
And for “half” the word media is used.
Just don't tell medi o.
Say the following tense in Spanish:
1:10
3:07
10:15
10:04
9:05
6:30
Don't confuse the words cuarto (quarter) and cuatro (four). Otherwise someone will arrive eleven minutes earlier or later.
Now let's move on to the left half of the dial. Here we will use the word menos, which in this case is an analogue of the Russian “without”. Here's how to use it:
| 7:50 - Son las ocho menos diez 8:55 - Son las nueve menos cinco |
Ten minutes to eight Five minutes to nine |
Literally, such sentences can be translated as “eight minus ten” and “nine minus five.”
Now say the following tense in Spanish:
10:40
4:45
11:53
In Spanish, as in Russian, the twelve-hour principle of determining time is widespread. That is, 13:00 will also be “Es la una”. Although a little less often, you can still hear “Son las trece”.
To clarify the time of day, you can add the following expressions:
de la mañana - morning (they say before lunch)
de la tarde - day, evening (they say after lunch)
de la noche - evenings, nights (said after dinner or when it gets dark)
Son las tres de la tarde - Three o'clock in the afternoon
Son las diez de la noche - Ten o'clock at night
Say it yourself:
9:00
16:00
17:30
20:45
Time lost in pleasure is not considered lost. So we won’t waste time, but rather quickly and with pleasure find out how to call time in Spanish.
¿Qué hora es? How much time? What time is it? To answer this question, we need two constructions: “Es la” (if we are talking about one hour of the day or night) and “Son las” (if we are talking about two, three, ten hours, that is, more than one) .
For example:
¿Qué hora es? - Es la una.- How much time? - An hour.
¿Qué hora es? - Son las dos (tres).- How much time? Two (three) hours.
Minutes after a whole hour (up to 30 minutes) are called as follows: hour + y + number of minutes. Half is “y media” and a quarter is “y cuarto”.
For example:
Es la una y diez.– It’s ten minutes past two (1:10).
Son las seis y media.– It’s half past six (6:30).
Son las diez y cuarto.– It’s a quarter past ten (10:15).
The minutes after half an hour are expressed using the word “menos” (meaning “minus”) + the number of minutes.
For example:
Son las dos menos veinte.– It’s twenty minutes to two (1:40).
Son las nueve menos cuarto.– It’s fifteen minutes to nine (8:45).
Instead of “menos”, the Spaniards also often use “faltar” (to lack, not to grab, to remain (until some point). This method is a little more complicated. Try to start saying time with “menos” and gradually introduce “faltar” into your repertoire.
Faltan quince para que sean las nueve.- It's fifteen minutes to nine now.
If you are bored with “media” and “cuarto”, you can call the number of minutes instead – 30 and 15 (treinta, quince).
The expression “de la mañana” is used when talking about the time before 12 noon, that is, in the morning; “de la tarde” - after lunch; “de la noche” – in the evening. Also try to remember the combination “en punto”, which means “exactly”, “exactly”.
For example:
Son las ocho de la mañana.– It’s 8 o’clock in the morning.
Es la una de la tarde.- One o'clock in the afternoon.
Son las ocho de la noche en punto.– It’s exactly 8 pm now.
In Spain, both 12-hour and 24-hour time formats are used to indicate time. That is, it is not necessary to always say “15 o’clock”, you can also say “3 o’clock”. However, if you want to be completely accurate, you can use the a.m. (from Latin ante meridiem - before noon) and p.m. (from Latin post meridiem - after noon).
For example:
Son las 4 y media a.m.– 4:30 am.
Son las 2 p.m.– 2 pm.
A video in which the teacher will schematically show you how to tell time in Spanish will help you consolidate your knowledge. The pace of speech in the video is slow, which is a plus if you're just starting out.
A few more useful words and expressions on the topic “Time” with translation:
¿A qué hora?- At what time?
Es mediodía.- Noon.
Es medianoche.- Midnight.
a mediadia– at noon
a medianoche– at midnight
Es tarde.- Late.
Es temprano.- It's early.
a tiempo- during
¿Cuándo...?- When …?
el tiempo- time
el reloj– clock (wall)
el despertador, la alarma- alarm
el reloj, el reloj de pulsera- wrist watch
Time is extremely interesting topic in language. Spanish also has many sayings, phraseological units and idioms on this topic. We suggest learning several of them to further enrich your speech.
A buenas horas, mangas verdes.- Only send you for death!
De higos a brevas.- From time to time.
No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano.- Time will do its work.
A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda.– Whoever gets up early, God gives him.
A su tiempo maduran las uvas.– Every vegetable has its time.
A little interesting information about Spanish time, habits and how to correctly distinguish the time of day. For a long time I could not understand how to distinguish between these times and therefore I greeted simply “Hola”, i.e. "Hello". What’s wrong with the time zone in Spain, when the morning ends and the day begins, and how to speak correctly - this is discussed in our short story.
Did you know that Spain's current time zone is somewhat unreasonable? Look at the map of European time zones and you will understand why. Not surprising, since Spain is geographically located almost like Great Britain. At the same time, the time zone belongs to Central Europe. As a result, Spaniards do not get enough sleep, do not eat on time and are not as productive as their European neighbors. The thing is that in 1942 Franco agreed to share a time zone with Germany.
They could change the time zone to make better use of the sundial, but with such a change other things would have to change, such as the established length of the working day. After civil war people had to have several jobs to feed their families and had to work both before lunch and for quite a long time after, in the evening. Perhaps this is why the Spaniards have such unusual lunch and dinner routines.
Times of day
In general, the division of the day turns out to be quite interesting, but, at the same time, quite understandable. The times of day in Spanish are as follows:
- La mañana(la mañana) - morning
- El Mediodia(el mediaodia) - noon
- La tarde(la tarde) - day/evening
- La noche(la noche) - night
But exactly when each of these periods begins and ends is not always obvious. La mañana (i.e. morning) for them begins when the Spaniards get up and continues until they have lunch. It turns out that you can easily have a seven o'clock morning! Let's say you woke up at 7:00 and had lunch around 2:00. Here it should be noted that there may also be a snack break, which in Spain is called el almuerzo (el almuerzo) around 11:00. A kind of " half morning" or " mid morning».
By the way, " mañana"It's not only morning, but also" Tomorrow" A " tomorrow morning" will sound like " mañanapor lamañana" (manana por la mañana).
Hago una pausa y me tomo un café a media mañana.
I have a coffee break around 11:00
This expression " mid morning" may cause confusion among some, because in Spain it means almost noon.
All this time we greet people “ Buenos Days ” i.e. " Good morning"until we have lunch. After you have eaten lunch you can say “ Buenas tardes " or " Good afternoon" This time of day is called mediadia those. noon, the time used to indicate lunch.
There is still a long day ahead and they use the term for it media tarde or late day. It is during this period that siesta occurs, but we will talk about it separately. So around 5:00 p.m. the kids finish school and it's time for another snack known as la merienda . After this, children's sections and after-school activities begin and continue until 19:00 or until parents finish their work day.
Dinner is usually eaten around 21:00 and at the same time the main news programs are broadcast on TV. And after dinner they already start talking la noche - night. People usually don't go to bed right away and around 10:00-11:00 pm is considered prime time on television. Of course, there are some differences depending on the region and locality, but, in general, this is the picture.
Examples of using phrases
When you find yourself in Spain (I can’t imagine how anyone could not want to be here), be prepared for what they will tell you: “ morning"When it's been a long time for you" day”, and the evening and night may not start as you expect.
Nos vemos a mediodía y nos tomamos un café.
Wrong: Let's meet at noon (12:00) and have coffee.
Right: Let's meet after lunch, around 15:00, and have coffee.
Quedamos esta noche para cenar.
Right: We gathered for dinner today.
However, do not book a table before 21:30-22:00 in this case.
So, in short, the times of the day are divided as follows (until the Spaniards are lucky enough to change it normally).
| In Russian | In Spanish | Eating | Time |
| in the morning | por la mañana | desayuno (breakfast) | 07:00–09:00 |
| late morning | a media mañana | almuerzo (snack) | 10:30–11:30 |
| at noon | a mediadia | comida (food) | 10:00–15:00 |
| late afternoon | por la tarde | - | 15:00–17:00 |
| In the evening | a media tarde | Merienda (afternoon snack) | 17:00–18:00 |
| at night | por la noche | Cena (dinner) | 21:00 and later |
I’ll also add that the Canary Islands have a -1 hour difference with mainland Spain, so I’m lucky with that.
Of course, these are all fun facts and nothing more; no one will scold you for incorrectly designating morning or evening. But this information can definitely help a tourist navigate an unfamiliar country and make a good impression on the locals. It’s always nice when a foreigner addresses you correctly, without stupid mistakes or incorrect use of words. Surely each of the readers has witnessed attempts by foreigners to explain something in the wrong words (especially if you live in a city attractive for tourism). Without knowledge of the language and local traditions, it is very easy to find yourself in the shoes of such a funny tourist and, I am sure, few people will want this.
Learn new things, learn and gain knowledge, dear readers! And we will try to help you with this in some way. Thank you for your attention!
Hola, ¿qué hora es? - Hello, what time is it?
Son las nueve - Nine o'clock
In this section we will touch on such a useful topic in everyday life as telling time in Spanish. To learn how to navigate the Spanish clock, the knowledge about numerals obtained in lesson 7 will be very useful to us. This topic itself is easy, and you can master it quite quickly.
First, let’s ask the question “What time is it?” in Spanish:
¿Qué hora es? - What time is it?
An approximate answer to this question might be:
Son las ocho - Eight o'clock
Both the question and the answer must contain the verb ser. Only in the answer, if we are talking about all hours except one, we must put the verb ser in the plural form son. Compare:
1:00 - Es la una - Hour
2:00 - Son las dos - Two (hours)
3:00 - Son las tres - Three (hours)
4:00 - Son las cuatro - Four (hours)
etc.
It is also mandatory to use the feminine definite article. In the case of one hour, you need to put the article la, with all other hours - las. This is because the word hora (hour) or horas is implied here. So the complete answers would look like this:
1:00 – Es la una hora – One hour
2:00 – Son las dos horas – Two hours
11:00 - Son las once horas - Eleven o'clock
Sometimes they say this too, but more often the word hora is omitted.
We will build on such proposals to clarify the minutes and other details.
To say “exactly” you need to add the connective en punto.
2:00 - Son las dos en punto - Two hours exactly
1:00 – Es la una en punto – Exactly one hour
7:00 - Son las siete en punto - Exactly seven
Say it yourself in Spanish:
What time is it? — It’s three o’clock now
What time is it? - Exactly six
What time is it? — Hour
Move your cursor to check.
Let us now consider cases when the minute hand is on the right side of the dial. In this case, you need to put the conjunction y between the hour and the minute.
10:05 - Son las diez y cinco - Ten hours five minutes
7:10 - Son las siete y diez - Ten minutes past eight
11:20 - Son las once y veinte - Twenty minutes past eleven
Typically, the Spanish word for “fifteen minutes” is cuarto, a quarter.
5:15 - Son las cinco y cuarto - Quarter past five
12:15 - Son las doce y cuarto - Quarter past twelve
And for “half” the word media is used.
3:30 - Son las tres y media - Half past three
7:30 - Son las siete y media - Half past seven
Just don't say medio.
Say the following tense in Spanish:
1:10
3:07
10:15
10:04
9:05
6:30
Don't confuse the words cuarto (quarter) and cuatro (four). Otherwise someone will arrive eleven minutes earlier or later.
Now let's move on to the left half of the dial. Here we will use the word menos, which in this case is an analogue of the Russian “without”. Here's how to use it:
7:50 - Son las ocho menos diez - Ten to eight
8:55 - Son las nueve menos cinco - Five to nine
Literally, such sentences can be translated as “eight minus ten” and “nine minus five.”
Now say the following tense in Spanish:
10:40
4:45
11:53
In Spanish, as in Russian, the twelve-hour principle of determining time is widespread. That is, 13:00 will also be “Es la una”. Although a little less often, you can still hear “Son las trece”.
To clarify the time of day, you can add the following expressions:
de la mañana - morning (they say before lunch)
de la tarde - day, evening (they say after dinner)
de la noche - evenings, nights (they say after dinner or when it gets dark)
Son las tres de la tarde - Three o'clock in the afternoon
Son las diez de la noche - Ten o'clock at night
Say it yourself:
9:00
16:00
17:30
20:45
22:10
Ejercicios
Exercises
Ejercicio 1
Look at the clock and determine what time it is
Ejercicio 2
Tell the time in Spanish
12:30
16:00
1:05
14:10
7:30
6:45
20:50
13:20
23:40
Ejercicio 3
Translate into Spanish
1. What time is it? - Three o'clock exactly; 2. What time is it? - Five minutes past twelve; 3. What time is it? - A quarter to eight; 4. What time is it? - Ten o'clock in the morning; 5. I think it's half past nine in the evening.
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