This basic lesson focuses on how to ask for and tell the time of day in Spanish, as well as expressing the days of the week. Compared to other topics, it is fortunately one that you may be able to read through just a couple of times, and get the hang of it. Don’t be afraid to read it out loud!! Try asking yourself the questions, and then responding back.
¿Qué hora es? Is equivalent to “What time is it?”
In expressing time, “It is” is expressed by “Es la” (for one o’clock), and “Son las” for other hours (two o’clock, three o’clock, and so on).
For example:
- Es la una – It’s one o’clock.
- Son las dos (tres) – It’s two (three) o’clock.
Time past the hour (up to half past) is expressed by the hour + y, followed by the number of minutes. “Half past” is expressed by “y media”; “a quarter past” is expressed by “y cuarto”.
For example:
- Es la una y diez – It’s ten (minutes) after one. It’s 1:10.
- Son las seis y media – It’s half past six. It’s 6:30.
- Son las diez y cuarto – It’s a quarter after ten. It’s 10:15.
Alter half past, the time is expressed in terms of the following hour “menos” (minus) the minutes.
For example:
- Son las dos menos veinte – It’s twenty minutes to two. It’s 1:40.
- Son las nueve menos cuarto – It’s a quarter to nine. It’s 8:45.
A more difficult, yet common approach is to use “faltar” (missing) instead of menos.
- Faltan quince para que sean las nueve. – It’s fifteen minutes to nine. It’s 8:45.
Try the “menos” approach first, and then try to add the “faltar” approach to your repertoire.
The expresión “de la mañana” corresponds to English “a.m.” (in the morning), “de la tarde” (in the afternoon) and “de la noche” (in the evening) correspond to English “p.m.”, “en punto” means “sharp” or “on the dot.”
For example:
- Son las ocho de la mañana – It’s 8:00 a.m.
- Es la una de la tarde – It’s 1:00 p.m.
- Son las ocho de la noche en punto – It’s 8:00 p.m (exactly).
NOTE
Instead of “media” and “cuarto”, the number of minutes may be used (treinta, quince).
For example:
- Son las cinco y treinta – It’s five-thirty. It’s half past five.
- Es la una y quince – It’s one-fifteen. It’s a quarter past one.
It’s not uncommon to heat times like 12:45 and 12:50 expressed with “y”.
For example:
- Son las doce y cuarenta y cinco – It’s twelve-forty-five.
- Son las doce y cincuenta – It’s twelve-fifty.
Otherwise:
- Es la una menos cuarto
- Es la una menos diez
Common time expresions:
¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?
¿A qué hora? – At what time?
A las dos (tres) – at two (three) o’clock
de la mañana – in the morning, a.m.
de la tarde – in the afternoon, p.m.
de la noche – at night, p.m.
Es mediodía – It’s noon
a mediodía – at noon
Es medianoche – It’s midnight
a medianoche – at midnight
Es tarde – It’s late
Es temprano – It’s early
a tiempo – on time
En punto – exactly, sharp
Now on to days and dates:
Days of the week (Los días de la semana)
lunes – Monday
martes – Tuesday
miércoles – Wednesday
jueves – Thursday
viernes – Friday
sábado – Saturday
domingo – Sunday
fin de semana – Weekend
NOTE
“On” before a day of the week is expressed by “el” for the singular and “los” for the plural.
El / los lunes – on Monday / Mondays
El / los martes – on Tuesday / Tuesdays
El / los miércoles – on Wednesday / Wednesdays
El / los jueves – on Thursday / Thursdays
El / los viernes – on Friday / Fridays
El / los sábado(s) – on Saturday / Saturdays
El / los domingo(s) – on Sunday / Sundays
El / los fin(es) de semana – on the weekend/ on the weekends
Note that the days of the week whose names end in –s do not change their form in the plural.
The days of the week are not capitalized in Spanish.
Months (meses)
Enero – January
Febrero – February
Marzo – March
Abril – April
Mayo – May
Junio – June
Julio – July
Agosto – August
Septiembre – September
Octubre – October
Noviembre – November
Diciembre – December
NOTE: Like the days of the week, the months are written with lowercase (small) letters in Spanish.
Dates
¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? – What is today date?
¿A cuánto estamos hoy? – What is today date?
Es el primero de enero – It’s January 1.
Estamos a primero de enero – It’s January 1.
Es el dos de febrero – It’s is February 2.
Es el tres (cuatro) de mayo – It’s May 3 (4).
Mil ochocientos doce – 1812
El quince de abril de mil novecientos noventa y seis – April 15, 1996
Some other tips
- Cardinal numbers are used for all dates except “primero” (first).
- el primero de abril – April 1(st)
- el tres (cuatro, cinco) de abril – April 3 (4, 5)
- In English we can say past years by hundreds alone (ie. How we say “seventeen HUNDRED fifty” for 1750). The year is expressed in Spanish by thousands and hundreds: “Mil setecientos cincuenta”, literally: one thousand seven hundred fifty.
- The date and month are connected by the preposition “de”. The month and the year are also connected by “de”.
- el diez de junio de mil ochocientos cuarenta – (on) June 10, 1840.
- With dates, el corresponds to “on”.
- El diez de abril. – On April 10.
photo credit: ToniVC via photopin
photo credit: fliegender via photopin
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good post! very helpful