Knowing how to tell the time in Spanish can help you master your Spanish test and look like a native speaker when visiting a Spanish-speaking country. Telling the time in Spanish is easy if you've mastered the verb ser (is) and learned a few tricks. If you want to know how to tell the time in Spanish, just follow these steps.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Learning the Basics
Step 1. Understand how to use the verb ser when telling time
Ser is a verb that means is and is the only verb you need to tell time. The two forms of ser are the plural, son las (they are) and the singular, es la (it is). Only use ice la if it's one o'clock. Use son welding at other times of the day. For example:
- Son las dos. Two o'clock.
- Ice la una. One o'clock.
Step 2. Tell the time using the 12 hour system
Before telling time in full, you should learn how to tell time using only time. Just say es la una to indicate one o'clock, and use son las followed by the number of hours in question, except for one, to say the time. Here are some examples:
- Son las cuatro. Four o'clock.
- Son las cinco. Five o'clock.
- Son las seis. Six o'clock.
- Son las siete. Seven o'clock.
- Son las once. Eleven o'clock.
Step 3. Learn how to show midnight or midday
Midnight and noon both indicate 12 o'clock, but you should say midnight or noon in a slightly different way. Here's how to do it:
- Ice mediodia. It's noon now.
- Medianoche ice. It's midnight now.
Step 4. Tell the time using hours and minutes
Telling the time in Spanish using minutes and hours is a bit more complicated than in Indonesian. To tell the time in Spanish, you don't need to use a number greater than 29. Here are two ways you need to know:
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To tell the time for the initial half-hour loop, simply state the exact form of ser followed by the hour, followed by y (and) and the number of minutes. Here are some examples:
- Son las siete y seis. 7:06.
- Son las diez y veinte. 10:20.
- Son las once y diez. 11:10.
- But remember one exception: if you show half an hour, don't say treinta (thirty) but say medium (half). For example: Son las dos y media. 2:30.
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To tell the time for the final half hour turn, you must first state the correct form of ser followed by the next hour digit, followed by menos (less) and the number of minutes remaining from the next hour digit. Here are some examples:
- Son las nueve menos cinco. 8:55.
- Son las once menos veinte. 10:40.
- Es la una menos veinticinco. 12:35.
- Son las tres menos cuarto. 2:45. Note that you must say cuarto (quarter) and not quince (fifteen).
Method 2 of 3: Learning Additional Abilities
Step 1. Learn how to indicate if the time is AM or PM
Spanish speakers usually don't say AM or PM, but use the words morning (manana), noon (tarde), and evening or afternoon (noche). Here's how to tell the time while showing the morning, afternoon, or evening time:
- Es la una de la mañana. One o'clock in the morning.
- Son las seis de la noche. Six o'clock in the afternoon.
- Son las cuatro de la tarde. Four o'clock in the afternoon.
Step 2. Learn some useful additional phrases
Even once you know how to tell the time in Spanish properly, you can always improve your skills by learning a few basic phrases. Here are some basic phrases:
- Son las cinco mas o menos. Around five o'clock.
- Ice la una en punto. Exactly one o'clock.
- Qué hora es? What time is it now?
Method 3 of 3: Example
- 6:00 - Son las seis.
- 2:15 - Son las dos y cuarto.
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4:30 - Son las cuatro y media.
Note: don't confuse cuarto (a quarter) with cuatro (four)
- 9:45 - Son las diez menos cuarto (in Spain).
- 9:45 - Son las nueve y cuarenta y cinco (in Latin America).
Tips
- Don't let your Spanish teacher or textbook teach a culture that doesn't correspond to reality. It's good to learn the concept of adding and subtracting time for learning purposes, but this is not necessary. In Latin America, you can confuse people with addition and subtraction time. Sounds like a robot, like referring to Widjayanto as a surname instead of a last name or saying that you have a cot in your living room, and not a sofa.
- You can also add modifiers (in the morning, in the afternoon, at night). Just use por la manana, a la tarde or por la noche. In Spanish, the preposition "de" is the general form in the previous expressions:
- 11 pm = son las once de la noche.
- In Latin America, sometimes they say Son las cinco y cincuenta y cinco, rather than subtracting from the next hour number.
- In America, reducing the telling time between the 31st and 59th minutes is not a common practice. It's actually very simple. Instead of saying son las diez menos veinte, you're just saying son las nueve y cuarenta.
- 3 am = son las tres de la mañana.
- In Mexico, it is more common to ask Qué horas son? But the correct spelling and complete pronunciation is actually A qué horas son? However, this is a grammatically wrong concept…almost the same as be in Kupang in Indonesia. Be is the correct spelling, but not very good Indonesian. In Costa Rica and other Latin American countries, it is common to hear Qué hora es? However, you may hear: Qué hora llevas?, Qué hora tienes ?, Tienes (la) hora?, A qué hora es _ (talking about an event)?
- 6 pm = son las seis de la tarde.
- In conversation, if someone asks you the time, you just have to say the number on the nueve veinte or nueve y veinte or nueve con veinte hours. It all depends on one country and another.
