Telling the Time in Spanish: ¿Qué hora es? Son las tres

Ask ¿Qué hora es? and answer Son las tres. Minutes go on with y (and) up to the half hour, and come off the next hour with menos (minus) after it. Two things catch English speakers: the plural, and its one exception:

• Son las tres. - It's three o'clock.
• Es la una. - It's one o'clock.

The whole system on one screen

Blue y adds minutes, orange menos takes them away. Everything else is a number you already know.

Asking the time

There is no word for o'clock. Son las tres is the whole answer, and las stands for the hidden horas.

Hora is the time on the clock. Time in general is tiempo, and an occasion is vez:

• ¿Qué hora es? - What time is it?
• No tengo tiempo. - I haven't got time.
• Es la primera vez. - It's the first time.

Es la una, son las dos

Every hour from two to twelve is plural, because you are counting hours. One o'clock is a single hour, so the verb and article are singular:

1234

1. 1Es la una.
2. 2Son las dos.
3. 3Son las dos y media.
4. 4Son las tres menos cuarto.

One o'clock is singular, es la una; every other hour is plural, son las dos. Quarter to three already names las tres.

The hour you name decides the verb. Quarter to one names la una, so it is singular even though the clock still shows twelve.

Y and menos: the minutes

Up to the half hour, add the minutes to the hour with y. After it, go to the next hour and take the minutes away with menos, just as English moves from past to to.

Two variants you will hear:

• Son las cuatro y cuarenta. - It's 4:40. Counting on past the half is never wrong, and it is how a digital clock reads.
• Faltan diez para las cinco. - It's ten to five. Common in Latin America: ten are missing until five.

For a rough time, y pico means a bit after: Son las tres y pico. - It's just gone three.

At what time? a las

At a clock time is a plus the article:

A never contracts with las or la. (It contracts only with el, as in al.)

Morning, afternoon and night

Add a part of the day to settle a.m. or p.m.:

1234

1. 1de la mañana
2. 2mediodía
3. 3de la tarde
4. 4de la noche

Follow the sun: la mañana as it rises, mediodía when it is highest, la tarde as it sinks, la noche once it is dark.

De la tarde runs from lunch until it gets dark, so las ocho de la tarde is normal on a summer evening. De la madrugada is the small hours, where English says in the morning.

Without a clock time, use por: Trabajo por la mañana. - I work in the morning.

The 24-hour clock

Timetables, shop doors and appointments use the 24-hour clock. Read it as plain numbers, hours then minutes:

Cuarto, media and menos do not mix with the 24-hour clock: 15:30 is las quince treinta, or in conversation las tres y media. Some speakers put a y in the middle:

• las quince y treinta - 15:30
• El tren sale a las quince treinta. - The train leaves at 15:30.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Say the time aloud every time you look at a clock today.
2. Do the sort and word-order drills below.
3. Next: the numbers page, for the minutes past twenty.