To talk about the time in Spanish, la hora is used. Though it literally translates as “the hour”, it is the Spanish equivalent for “the time”.
The verb ser (to be) is used to tell the time in Spanish, followed by the feminine article. The plural form son las is used for all hours, except for one o’clock, which takes the singular form es la:
Es la una. / It's one o'clock.
Son las dos. / It's two one o'clock.
Son las tres. / It's three one o'clock.
Son las cuatro. / It's four one o'clock.
Son las cinco. / It's five o'clock.
Son las seis. / It's six o'clock.
Son las siete. / It's seven o'clock.
Son las ocho. / It's eight o'clock.
Son las nueve. / It's nine o'clock.
Son las diez. / It's ten o'clock.
Son las once. / It's eleven o'clock.
Son las doce. / It's twelve o'clock.
The expression en punto (o'clock) can be used to express “exactly at a particular time”:
Son las cinco en punto.
It’s five o'clock.
Quick tip: The Spanish word hora is feminine, and is usually preceded by the feminine article.
How to express minutes
To express the minutes in Spanish, the clock is divided into two halves, with the words en punto (o’ clock) and y media (half past) at both extremes. The minutes in the right half of the clock are introduced by the word y (past the hour), and the ones in the left by menos (meaning “to or of the hour”). The hour always comes first, before the minutes:
y cinco
five past
y diez
ten past
y cuarto
quarter past
y veinte
twenty past
y veinticinco
twenty-five past
y media
half past
menos veinticinco
twenty-five to
menos veinte
twenty to
menos cuarto
quarter to
menos diez
ten to
menos cinco
five to
The hour always comes first, before the minutes.
For example:
It is also possible to introduce all the minutes in the clock with the word y, which may be omitted. For example:
Son las diez y cuatro.
It’s 10.04.Son las seis y cuarenta y siete.
It’s 6.47.Son las nueve cincuenta y cinco (means diez menos cinco)
It’s 9.55
To make clear what time of the day it is, the following expressions may be added after the time:
de la mañana
in the morningdel mediodía
at noonde la tarde
in the afternoonde la noche
in the evening, at nightde la madrugada
in the early morning
The 24-hour clock
The 24-hour clock is used in more formal contexts like schedules and airports. The word horas may be added at the end.
| 24-hour clock / am | 24-hour clock / pm |
|---|---|
| 1 de la madrugada 1 a.m. | 13 horas 1 p.m. |
| 2 horas 2 a.m. | 14 horas 2 p.m. |
| 3 horas 3 a.m. | 15 horas 3 p.m. |
| 4 horas 4 a.m. | 16 horas 4 p.m. |
| 5 horas 5 a.m. | 17 horas 5 p.m. |
| 6 horas 6 a.m. | 18 horas 6 p.m. |
| 7 horas 7 a.m. | 19 horas 7 p.m. |
| 8 horas 8 a.m. | 20 horas 8 p.m. |
| 9 horas 9 a.m. | 21 horas 9 p.m. |
| 10 horas 10 a.m. | 22 horas 10 p.m. |
| 11 horas 11 a.m. | 23 horas 11 p.m. |
| 12 horas 12 a.m. | 00 horas 12 p.m. |
How to ask for the time in Spanish
To ask about the time in Spanish, the most common question is:
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
Some examples of everyday conversations to ask for the time include:
—Disculpa, ¿qué hora es?
Excuse me, what time is it?
—Son las nueve y media.
It’s half past nine.
—¿Me puedes decir la hora, por favor?
Can you tell me what time it is, please?
—¡Claro! Son las tres de la tarde.
¡Sure! It’s 3 p.m.
—¿Tienes hora?
Do you have the time?
—Sí, son las tres menos cuarto.
Yes, it’s a quarter to three.
—¿A qué hora te levantas?
What time do you get up?
—Me levanto a las 8 todos los días.
I get up at 8 every morning.
—¿A qué hora sales del trabajo?
What time do you leave work?
—A las 6 de la tarde.
At 6 p.m.
—¿A qué hora será el examen mañana?
What time will the exam be tomorrow?
—Creo que a las 3 de la tarde.
I think it’ll be at 3 p.m.
—¿Sabes a qué hora es el concierto?
Do you know what time the concert will be?
—A las 9 de la noche.
At 9 p.m.
—¿A qué hora llegó Juan a casa?
What time did Juan get home?
—Llegó alrededor de la 1 de la madrugada.
He got home around 1 a.m.
To make a time adverbial, the preposition a (meaning “at”) is used before the time:
¿A qué hora es el vuelo?
What time is the flight?
La clase de yoga es a las 7 de la mañana.
The yoga class is at 7 a.m.
Escuché un estallido a las 3 de la madrugada.
I heard a bang at 3 a.m.
Time-related words
Some time-related words include:
temprano
early
tarde
late
pronto
soon
ahora
now
luego
later
alrededor de las 5
at around 5
hoy
today
mañana
tomorrow
pasado mañana
the day after tomorrow
anteayer
the day before yesterday
anochecer
dusk
amanecer
dawn
el medio de la noche
in the middle of the night
día
day
mes
month
año
year
la semana que viene
next week
el mes pasado
last month
hace dos horas
two hours ago
durante todo el día
all day long
horario
schedule
reunión
meeting
evento
event
Talking about time in Spanish
While the word hora is used to refer to “the time”, the word tiempo is used to make reference to “time” as a concept. Some Spanish expressions related to time include:
El reloj está atrasado.
The clock is behind.
Está adelantado.
It’s ahead.
Estamos en horario.
We’re on time.
Llegas temprano.
You’re early.
Llegamos tarde.
We’re late.
Es hora de irse.
It’s time to go.
Estaré de regreso en cinco minutos.
I’ll be back in five minutes.
Dame un minuto, por favor.
One minute, please.
Se acabó el tiempo.
Time’s up.
No queda tiempo.
We’re out of time.
No hay tiempo para eso.
There’s no time for that.
El tiempo vuela.
Time flies.
Tómate el tiempo para relajarte.
Take the time to unwind.
Eso fue hace mucho tiempo.
That was a long time ago.
¿Hace cuánto trabajas aquí?
How long have you been working here?
Was this information useful to you?
Yes NoGreat!, thank you for visiting us :)