How to tell time in Spanish

What time is it?

It is time to tell time in Spanish. As with many things in language, there are many ways to tell time in Spanish. Here, I will provide a basic way that will be understood everywhere you go. As you travel or talk to a variety of Spanish speaking people, you will learn other ways to tell time.

¿Qué hora es?

It is time to answer the question. ¿Qué hora es? The first thing we need to do is to deal with the hours, and then the minutes. You can start in two different ways:

• Es la una (it is only one, singular)

• Son las dos, tres, cuatro… (it is more than one, plural)

After you have mentioned the hour, you mention the minutes. You just need to pay attention if the minutes are on the right half, the left half of the clock, or in the middle. Let’s see some examples.

• 2:00: Son las dos en punto.

• 12:45: Es la una menos cuarto.

• 3:20: Son las tres y veinte.

• 8:30: Son las ocho y media.

Am or pm?

- Between midnight and noon, you may say de la mañana (in the morning).

- Between noon until it gets dark, you may say de la tarde (in the afternoon).

- Once it gets dark until midnight, you may say de la noche (in the evening).

Let´s look at those same times again. I will not provide a translation this time.

• 2:00am: Son las dos en punto de la mañana.

• 2:00pm: Son las dos en punto de la tarde.

• 12:45am: Es la una menos cuarto de la mañana.

• 12:45pm: Es la una menos cuarto de la tarde.

• 3:20am: Son las tres y veinte de la mañana.

• 3:20pm: Son las tres y veinte de la tarde.

• 8:30am: Son las ocho y media de la mañana.

• 8:30pm: Son las ocho y media de la tarde (if there is still daylight) or de la noche (if it is dark).

Time is up

I would like to reinforce again that these are not the only ways to express time and what part of the day it is. However, this way to express time (like any other), will be understood wherever you go.