\u00bfQu\u00e9 hora es?<\/span>What time is it?<\/small><\/p>\n\n Es la una.<\/span>It’s one o’clock.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Son las cinco.<\/span>It’s five o’clock.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Spanish works like British English “past” and “to”, except that the hour always comes first. Up to half past, you add minutes with y<\/span>; after half past, you take them away from the next hour with menos<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n Good news for British pupils: the colloquial “half three” (3:30) works exactly like las tres y media<\/span>. The trap is the second half of the clock: las tres menos cuarto<\/span> is 2:45, not 3:45, because menos<\/span> counts back from the hour that is named.<\/p>\n\n Spanish has no a.m. and p.m. in speech. Instead, you add the part of the day:<\/p>\n\n Son las siete de la tarde.<\/span>It’s seven in the evening.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Me levanto a las siete de la ma\u00f1ana.<\/span>I get up at seven in the morning.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Midday is el mediod\u00eda<\/span> (Es mediod\u00eda<\/span>, or son las doce del mediod\u00eda<\/span>) and midnight is la medianoche<\/span> (Es medianoche<\/span>, or son las doce de la noche<\/span>). In writing, several Latin American countries also use a. m.<\/span> and p. m.<\/span><\/p>\n\n \u00bfA qu\u00e9 hora empieza la clase?<\/span>What time does the lesson start?<\/small><\/p>\n\n A las nueve y cuarto.<\/span>At quarter past nine.<\/small><\/p>\n\n A la una.<\/span>At one o’clock.<\/small><\/p>\n\n “Around” is a eso de las seis<\/span>, hacia las seis<\/span> or, very commonly in Spain, sobre las seis<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n Timetables, stations, television and official announcements use the 24-hour clock, and the minutes are then read as plain numbers, with no cuarto<\/span>, media<\/span> or menos<\/span>:<\/p>\n\n El tren sale a las diecisiete cuarenta y cinco.<\/span>The train leaves at 17:45.<\/small><\/p>\n\n In writing, the Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola accepts both a colon and a full stop: 17:45 or 17.45.<\/p>\n\n Everything above is understood everywhere. You will also meet:<\/p>\n\n A sensible approach: teach one system for pupils to produce, and let them hear the others in listening work.<\/p>\n\n Telling the time needs little and often, more than one long lesson. A one-minute routine at the start of the lesson does the job.<\/p>\n\n A world map makes the routine richer: point at a city, the class says what time it is there. Mexico City, Buenos Aires or Bogot\u00e1 bring in the Spanish-speaking world at the same time as the numbers.<\/p>\n\n Es la una or son las dos, y media and menos cuarto, the 24-hour clock and regional variants, with a routine for the classroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Telling the Time in Spanish: Rules and Examples | VocaDial","_seopress_titles_desc":"How to tell the time in Spanish: es la una, son las dos, y cuarto, y media, menos cuarto, the 24-hour clock and Latin American variants. For teachers.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_vd_topic":"heure","_vd_target":"es","_vd_module":"hora","_vd_level":"A1\u2013A2","_vd_minutes":"7","_vd_card_word":"las tres y media","_vd_answer":"To tell the time in Spanish, say es la una<\/span> for one o'clock and son las\u2026<\/span> for every other hour: son las tres<\/span> (3:00). Add minutes with y<\/span> up to half past (y cuarto, y media<\/span>) and count back from the next hour with menos<\/span> after that: son las cuatro menos cuarto<\/span> (3:45).","_vd_faq":"[{\"q\":\"How do you ask the time in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"\u00bfQu\u00e9 hora es?<\\\/span> In Mexico and parts of Latin America you will also hear \u00bfQu\u00e9 horas son?<\\\/span>\"},{\"q\":\"Why is it es la una but son las dos?\",\"a\":\"Because the hidden noun is la hora<\\\/span>: one hour is singular (es la una<\\\/span>), two or more hours are plural (son las dos<\\\/span>).\"},{\"q\":\"How do you say quarter to in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"With menos cuarto<\\\/span>, counting back from the next hour: son las cinco menos cuarto<\\\/span> is 4:45. In much of Latin America you will also hear un cuarto para las cinco<\\\/span>.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you say a.m. and p.m. in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"In speech, add de la ma\u00f1ana<\\\/span>, de la tarde<\\\/span> or de la noche<\\\/span>. In writing, the 24-hour clock is common; several Latin American countries also write a. m.<\\\/span> and p. m.<\\\/span>\"},{\"q\":\"Is it y media or y medio?\",\"a\":\"Always y media<\\\/span>: it agrees with the feminine noun la hora<\\\/span>.\"}]","_vd_key":"heure-es","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-46","vd_ressource","type-vd_ressource","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/vd_ressource"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/46\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The minutes: y and menos<\/h2>\n\n
Spanish<\/th> Time<\/th> Word for word<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Son las tres en punto<\/td> 3:00<\/td> three on the dot<\/td><\/tr> Son las tres y cinco<\/td> 3:05<\/td> three and five<\/td><\/tr> Son las tres y diez<\/td> 3:10<\/td> three and ten<\/td><\/tr> Son las tres y cuarto<\/td> 3:15<\/td> three and a quarter<\/td><\/tr> Son las tres y veinte<\/td> 3:20<\/td> three and twenty<\/td><\/tr> Son las tres y veinticinco<\/td> 3:25<\/td> three and twenty-five<\/td><\/tr> Son las tres y media<\/td> 3:30<\/td> three and a half<\/td><\/tr> Son las cuatro menos veinticinco<\/td> 3:35<\/td> four minus twenty-five<\/td><\/tr> Son las cuatro menos veinte<\/td> 3:40<\/td> four minus twenty<\/td><\/tr> Son las cuatro menos cuarto<\/td> 3:45<\/td> four minus a quarter<\/td><\/tr> Son las cuatro menos diez<\/td> 3:50<\/td> four minus ten<\/td><\/tr> Son las cuatro menos cinco<\/td> 3:55<\/td> four minus five<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n Morning, afternoon and night<\/h2>\n\n
At what time?<\/h3>\n\n
The 24-hour clock<\/h2>\n\n
Latin American variants<\/h2>\n\n
Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners<\/h2>\n\n
In class: a time routine<\/h2>\n\n
Adapting to your class<\/h3>\n\n