Has someone asked you the time in Spanish? You can easily respond by saying Son las # (hour) y # (minutes). If you can count to 59 in Spanish, you’re already on your way to communicating what time it is and to understanding the answer to the question ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?), in the most straightforward form.
By the end of this post, you’ll also be familiar with common phrases like y media (half-past), and y cuarto (quarter after). You’ll know how to recognize menos (minus) so that you’re not late to your appointments, how the 24-hour clock works, and more.
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How to ask for the time in Spanish
Asking for the time in Spanish is simple. Just memorize this phrase and you’re set:
- ¿Qué hora es? = What time is it?
To be even more polite, get someone’s attention using disculpe (excuse me).
- Disculpe, ¿qué hora es? = Excuse me, what time is it?
You may also hear other formal or colloquial ways to ask for the time, depending where you are in the world.
| Spanish | English |
| ¿Me das la hora? | Can you give me the time? (informal) |
| ¿Me podría decir la hora? | Could you tell me the time? (formal) |
| ¿Qué hora(s) son? | What time is it? |
| ¿Qué hora tienes? | What time do you have? |
| ¿Tienes hora? | Do you have the time? (informal) |
| ¿Usted tiene la hora? | Do you have the time? (formal). |
How to tell someone the time in Spanish
When someone asks you for la hora (the time), be ready with your answer in the simplest of ways with the hour and the minutos (minutes), or use some more advanced expressions for specific situations.
Telling the hour
Telling time in Spanish starts with knowing the Spanish number for the hour. For hours in Spanish other than one o’clock, start with son las, and then give the number in Spanish.
- Son las tres. = It’s three o’clock.
- Son las nueve. = It’s nine o’clock.
One o’clock is the exception because of Spanish grammar rules. Use es la instead of son las because in every other case, you’re referring to a plural number of hours, but “one hour” is singular.
- Es la una. = It’s one o’clock.
| Spanish | English |
| Es la una. | It’s 1:00. |
| Son las dos. | It’s 2:00. |
| Son las tres. | It’s 3:00. |
| Son las cuatro. | It’s 4:00. |
| Son las cinco. | It’s 5:00. |
| Son las seis. | It’s 6:00. |
| Son las siete. | It’s 7:00. |
| Son las ocho. | It’s 8:00. |
| Son las nueve. | It’s 9:00. |
| Son las diez. | It’s 10:00. |
| Son las once. | It’s 11:00. |
| Son las doce. | It’s 12:00. |
Noon and midnight
To talk about 12:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., you can use the words medianoche (midnight) and mediodía (noon).
- Es medianoche. = It’s midnight.
- Es mediodía. = It’s noon.
Just like one o’clock, these phrases both use the singular es.
Adding the minutes
To add the minutes, use y (and) plus the Spanish number for the minutes.
- Son las cinco y cuarenta y cinco. = It’s 5:45.
- Son las cinco y quince. = It’s 5:15.
It helps to know all of the numbers in Spanish from one through 59 if someone is asking you for the very precise time.
- ¿Qué hora es exactamente? = What time is it exactly?
- Son las ocho y treinta y tres. = It’s 8:33.
- ¿Tiene la hora exacta? = Do you have the exact time?
- Es la una y cincuenta y nueve. = It’s 1:59.
Expressions for different times of the day
You can add these expressions to be more specific, or if the context isn’t clear whether you are talking about morning or afternoon.
| Spanish | English |
| de la madrugada | in the very early morning |
| de la mañana | in the morning |
| de la tarde | in the afternoon |
| de la noche | at night |
Just as the various ways to say “hello” in Spanish switch from buenos días in the morning to buenas tardes in the afternoon, people will naturally start referring to de la tarde and de la noche based on cultural cues.
Depending on the approximate time of sunset or whether it’s after lunch, pay attention to when native speakers tend to switch these expressions.
Other Spanish phrases for time you’ll hear
Knowing how to tell the time in Spanish goes beyond the Spanish numbers for hora and minutos. You’re also very likely to hear these phrases in everyday life.
| Spanish | English |
| en punto | exactly at/sharp |
| menos cuarto | quarter two |
| sobre | around/approximately |
| y cuarto | quarter after |
| y media | half past |
‘Quarter after’ and ‘half past’
Just like in English, it’s very common to round the time to the nearest quarter of an hour. You can express time in this way using the phrase y cuarto for fifteen minutes past the hour and y media for thirty minutes past the hour.
- Son las cinco y cuarto. = It’s 5:15./It’s quarter after five.
- Son las ocho y media. = It’s 8:30./It’s half past eight.
But ¡cuidado! (be careful). The word cuarto (quarter) looks and sounds a lot like cuatro (four).
- Son las cuatro y cuarto. = It’s 4:15./It’s quarter after four.
- Es la una y cuarto. = It’s 1:15./It’s quarter after one.
- Mi tren llega a las seis y cincuenta y cuatro. = My train arrives at 6:54.
Menos means ‘until the next hour’ when telling time
The word menos means “minus” or “less” in Spanish. As in English, people will often use expressions like menos cuarto (quarter to). But be careful with this one, because it literally means ‘minus a quarter’ and is better understood as the number of minutes until the next hour or the number of minutes to the next hour.
- Son las seis menos cuarto. = It’s quarter to six.
- Son las diez menos cinco. = It’s five minutes to ten.
While it’s entirely possible to avoid menos by saying the exact number of minutes after the hour, as in Son las ocho y cuarenta y cinco (8:45), it’s important to understand this way of expressing time, since it’s so common in everyday Spanish conversations.
Imagine you are told to arrive for a scheduled appointment at las seis menos diez. You hear the word seis and understand “six” and diez and understand “ten,” so you arrive at 6:10 instead of 5:50. ¡Ups! (oops!), now you’re 20 minutes late.
Menos cuarto means ‘quarter to’
Times that are closer to the next hour can be expressed with two different numbers for the hour, so it’s easy to mix up. Remember that menos cuarto means “fifteen minutes until the next hour” and you’ll always be on time.
- Son las dos menos cuarto. = It’s 1:45./It’s quarter to two.
- Es la una y cuarenta y cinco. = It’s 1:45./It’s quarter to two.
Use en punto for an exact time
The expression en punto has several equivalents in English.
- on the dot
- on the nose
- sharp
- on the hour
- exactly at
When it’s important to keep to a schedule, someone might use this expression to emphasize the time.
- Tienes que llegar a tiempo, porque el autobús sale a las seis en punto. = You have to arrive on time, because the bus leaves at 6:00 sharp.
- Nos vemos a las 8:30 en punto. = See you at exactly 8:30.
If you’re flexible, you can use sobre (around).
- En España, comemos sobre las dos o tres. = In Spain, we eat around 2:00 or 3:00.
Use a las/a la to say at what time something will take place
If you’re not referring to what time it is now, but instead to when something will occur, you’ll want to use a las/a la (at) in your expression instead of son or es.
- El tren sale a las seis de la mañana. = The train leaves at six in the morning.
- El tren sale a la una y treinta. = The train leaves at 1:30.
Use ¿A qué hora? to ask “at what time” in Spanish, which is helpful for schedules and appointments.
- ¿A qué hora sale su tren? = (At) what time does your train leave?
- Mi tren sale a las ocho y treinta y siete de la mañana. = My train leaves at 8:37 a.m.
The 24-hour clock
English speakers use both phrases like “in the morning/afternoon” and the abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.” In Spanish, you can use phrases for times of day, such as de la mañana or use the 24-hour clock, sometimes known as “military time” in English.
Many countries around the world use 24-hour time. Depending on the region, you may encounter:
- Both a 12-hour and 24-hour clock interchangeably.
- A 24-hour clock when writing and a 12-hour clock when speaking.
- The 24-hour clock exclusively.
How the 24-hour clock works
As you’re reading timetables for trains and airplanes, opening hours of stores and restaurants, and start times for events, it’s common to hear that something will start a las veintiuno, or at “twenty-one” in Spanish. This would be the equivalent of 9 p.m. on the 12-hour clock.
A 24-hour clock doesn’t stop at noon. It continues counting up using 13, 14, 15, and so on, all the way to 23:59, which is the equivalent of 11:59 p.m. It starts over at midnight with a time of 0:00.
To convert the 24-hour clock to p.m., simply subtract 12 from the hour. Just be certain you’re subtracting 12 and not 10, which is a common mistake for beginners.
- 14:30 = 2:30 p.m.
- 16:05 = 4:05 p.m.
- 21:15 = 9:15 p.m.
| Spanish | English |
| mediodía/las doce | noon/12 p.m. |
| las trece | 1 p.m. |
| las catorce | 2 p.m. |
| las quince | 3 p.m. |
| las dieciséis | 4 p.m. |
| las diecisiete | 5 p.m. |
| las dieciocho | 6 p.m. |
| las diecinueve | 7 p.m. |
| las veinte | 8 p.m. |
| las veintiuno | 9 p.m. |
| las veintidós | 10 p.m. |
| las veintitrés | 11 p.m. |
| medianoche | midnight/12 a.m. |
Frequently asked questions about telling time in Spanish
Learning how to tell time in Spanish involves more than just numbers. By learning this simple conversation starter, you’re also picking up on Spanish grammar rules, vocabulary, and cultural awareness.
How do you say the word ‘time’ in Spanish?
While the word hora works for telling the time on the clock, there are other translations for “time” in Spanish.
| Spanish | English Context |
| la época | time period/era |
| medir/cronometrar | to time (verb) how long something takes |
| la temporada | season, or period of time in a year. |
| el tiempo | the concept of time in general, as in “spending time” or “having enough time.” |
| vez/veces | number of occurrences, such as “one time” or “two times.” |
How do you say ‘o’clock’ in Spanish?
There is no equivalent of this expression in Spanish. It’s enough to say the time, such as
- Son las ocho. = It’s eight o’clock.
Why is it son las for all the hours except una?
There isn’t a word-for-word English translation, but this is a great example of a few Spanish grammar concepts. The word hora is feminine, so the definite articles la and las are correct. For one hour, use the singular la, and for more than one, use the plural las.
The Spanish verb ser is part of expressing the current time. The singular “it” form is es, which is correct for one o’clock, but switches to son, the plural form when it’s more than one hour.
How do you say ‘lunchtime’ or ‘bedtime’ in Spanish?
If you want to refer to a typical time to do an activity, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or going to bed, use the expression es hora de (it’s the time of). Some examples are:
- Es hora de desayunar. = It’s breakfast time.
- Es hora de cenar. = It’s dinner time.
- Es hora de dormir. = It’s bedtime.
- Es hora de siesta. = It’s nap time.
Typical meal times vary depending on the Spanish-speaking culture, so as you’re talking with Spanish-speakers in your community or with one of Rosetta Stone’s expert tutors from around the world, ask them ¿A qué hora? they typically enjoy each meal, sparking even more interesting conversations.
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