10K+ students - 4.8/5

Conversation courses Learning materials included Group or private lessons

Telling the time in Spanish - vocabulary and expressions

Spanish

Video

Podcast

Saying the time in Spanish

Spanish English

We use "es la" followed by the hour for times between 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock.

Es la una. It's one o'clock.

For times other than 1 o'clock, we use "son las" before stating the hour.

Son las cinco. It's five o'clock.

"Media hora" means it's half past the hour.

Media hora. Half an hour.
Dos y cuarto. Two fifteen.

For times within the second half of the hour, use the phrase "y" (and) to specify minutes after the hour.

Son las nueve y cuarenta y cinco. It's nine forty-five.
Aproximadamente las tres. Around three o'clock.

State the hour first, followed by the minutes.
For example: "Son las tres y cuarto." => "It's three fifteen."

Dialogue on saying the time

Spanish English
¡Hola! ¿Qué hora es? Hi! What's the time?
Son las dos. It's two o'clock.
¿Y cuándo es tu reunión? And when is your meeting?
Mi reunión es a las once de la mañana. My meeting is at eleven in the morning.
Genial, nos vemos a las diez. Great, see you at ten.
Nos vemos See you, we see each other.

Parts of the day in Spanish

Spanish English
La mañana. The morning.
Use "la mañana" for the time from sunrise to noon.
La tarde. The afternoon.
Use "la tarde" for the time from noon to sunset.
La noche. The evening or the night.
Use "la noche" for the time from sunset to midnight.

When talking about parts of the day, use the definite articles "la" or "el" before the name of the period.
For example: "La mañana." => "The morning."

Dialogue on the parts of the day 

Spanish English
¡Hola! ¿Qué parte del día es? Hello! What part of the day is it?
Es la tarde. It's the afternoon.
¿Cómo estás disfrutando de la tarde? How are you enjoying the afternoon?
Estoy esperando a la noche. I'm waiting for the night.
Espero que tengas planes emocionantes para esta noche. I hope you have exciting plans for tonight.

Adverbs of time (yesterday, today, tomorrow,...)

Spanish English
Hoy Today
Ayer Yesterday
Mañana Tomorrow
Ahora Now
Anoche Last night

Adverbs of time in Spanish generally come after the verb in a sentence.
For example: "Ella fue al cine ayer." => "She went to the cinema yesterday."

Dialogue on the adverbs of time

Spanish English
¡Hola! ¿Qué está pasando ahora? Hi! What's happening now?
Pasando Happening
Hoy estamos aprendiendo español. Today, we're learning Spanish.
¿Y mañana? And tomorrow?
Mañana vamos al parque. Tomorrow, we're going to the park.
El parque The park
¿Qué hiciste ayer? What did you do yesterday?
Ayer por la noche fuimos a casa a cenar. Last night we went home to have dinner.
Fuimos a casa We went home

 

Key takeaways

Here is a quick summary of this lesson.

Important! Practise this lesson with a teacher.

We recommend to complement our free lessons with one of our teachers in conversation lessons. We offer both private and group lessons.

Subscribe to our social media channels to get free daily exercises!

Exercises