A Newbie’s Information to Telling Time in Spanish

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Irrespective of the place you’re or what language you converse, the clock retains ticking. When you’ve realized depend in Spanish, with the ability to inform time will allow you to schedule duties and make social plans with individuals. It’s additionally straightforward to be taught the fundamentals, even in case you don’t have an intensive understanding of the language. By the tip of this put up, you’ll have the important ability of with the ability to inform time in Spanish!

For a useful follow-up, check out our put up on Spanish days of the week to be taught much more about setting dates. Or, try our information on the 100+ most typical Spanish phrases. 

In the event you’re concerned about going past the fundamentals, try Rosetta Stone. Its distinctive Dynamic Immersion technique can assist you be taught Spanish intuitively, and each unit is damaged into bite-sized classes you could simply match into your day by day schedule. Plus, you’ll be able to select between Latin American or European Spanish to make sure you grasp the nuances of every! 

Easy methods to ask for the time in Spanish

Asking for the time in Spanish is straightforward. Simply memorize one or each of those phrases and also you’re set:

• ¿Qué hora es? = What time is it?
• ¿Tiene la hora? = Do you have got the time?

If you ask somebody for the time, you could get a common reply reasonably than a selected one. In instances the place you’ll want to know exactly what time it’s, you’ll be able to add “precisely” to your query:

• ¿Qué hora es exactamente? = What time is it precisely?
• ¿Tiene la hora exacta? = Do you have got the precise time?

Easy methods to inform the time in Spanish

Listed here are two frequent methods you’ll be able to specific time to different individuals. Observe that if you’re speaking in regards to the time you’re referring to the hour, or hora, which is a female noun, so it’s best to use the articles la and las as an alternative of el and los.

Hour and minutes

Probably the most easy method to specific time is by giving the hour and the minutes. To do that, you’ll use a type of the verb ser (“to be”).

For many instances, it’s best to use the plural type son adopted by the plural article las. For example:

• Son las cinco. = It’s 5 o’clock.
• Son las doce. = It’s twelve o’clock.

If you’re speaking about one o’clock, midday, and midnight, you’ll as an alternative use the singular type of ser, which is es. For one o’clock, you’ll comply with that with the singular article la. Check out these examples:

• Es la una. = It’s one o’clock.
• Es mediodía. = It’s midday.
• Es medianoche. = It’s midnight.

Right here’s a fast record of phrases you should utilize to inform time in Spanish when it’s on the hour: 

To incorporate minutes, merely add y (“and”) after the hour after which say the quantity for what number of minutes have handed, like so:

• Son las ocho y veintiséis. = It’s 8:26.
• Es la una y catorce. = It’s 1:14.

“Quarter previous,” “half previous,” and “quarter to”

Like in English, it’s additionally frequent in Spanish to divide an hour into quarters and halves. You’ll be able to specific time on this manner utilizing the phrase media for a half-hour and cuarto for a quarter-hour. Listed here are some examples:

• Es la una y media. = It’s half previous one.
• Son las as soon as y cuarto. = It’s a quarter previous eleven.

If it’s 1 / 4 to the subsequent hour, you’d as an alternative say that it’s the subsequent hour menos cuarto, like this:

• Son las tres menos cuarto. = It’s a quarter till three.

Easy methods to use “menos” to inform time 

When a time falls from 31 to 59 minutes previous the hour (i.e. 10:39PM), you have got two choices. The primary is to only say the hour and minutes, like in these examples:

• Son las diez y treinta y nueve. = It’s 10:39.
• Es la una y cincuenta y dos. = It’s 1:52.

The second is to say what number of minutes there are till the subsequent hour, just like how you’d say menos cuarto to imply it’s 1 / 4 to the subsequent hour. 

• Son las as soon as menos veintiuno. = It’s twenty-one till eleven.
• Son las dos menos ocho. = It’s eight till two.

12-hour clock vs. 24-hour clock

Whereas it’s frequent in English-speaking nations to make use of a 12-hour clock, many Spanish-speaking nations use a 24-hour clock (also called navy time). Relying on the nation, they could use:

• each a 12-hour clock and 24-hour clock interchangeably 
• a 24-hour clock when writing and a 12-hour clock when talking
• the 24-hour clock completely

In the event you’re saying the time in Spanish whereas utilizing a 12-hour clock, know that Spanish doesn’t have good equivalents to a.m. and p.m. As a substitute, you’ll be able to add one in all these phrases after the time.

Listed here are a few instance sentences:

• Son las ocho de la noche. = It’s eight o’clock at evening.
• Es la una y treinta de la mañana. = It’s 1:30 within the morning.

Instances of day in Spanish

Many Spanish audio system will make plans round common intervals of the day as an alternative of tangible instances. If you’re setting a gathering in Spanish, these instances of day are helpful to know:

• mañana = morning
• tarde = afternoon/night
• noche = evening
• amanecer = daybreak
• mediodía = midday/noon
• anochecer = nightfall
• medianoche = midnight
• madrugada = midnight to daybreak
• hora del desayuno = breakfast time
• hora de almorzar = lunchtime
• hora de cenar = dinnertime
• hora de acostarse = bedtime
• siesta = naptime*

*Siesta sometimes lasts from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., although this may differ relying on the nation and area.

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