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Question words in Spanish
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How to ask questions in Spanish
Formal vs. Informal "You"
The two kinds of address and when to use each one
Spanish plurals
How to get more than one of something
Definite and indefinite articles
The difference between "the" and "a", and how to say these in Spanish
Negating statements
How to say you don't know what you're doing
Adjectives in Spanish
Where to put them and how to use them
Ser vs Estar: The two kinds of "to be"
How to know when to say yo soy vs. when to say yo estoy.
Weather vocabulary
The ultimate icebreaker
Feelings and moods
How to talk about how you're feeling using the verbs estar and sentirse
Spanish false cognates ("false friends")
9 Spanish words that seem similar to English, but are actually dangerously different
Telling the time
How to ask and give the time in Spanish
¿Dónde está? or ¿Dónde hay?
How to know whether to use estar or haber when talking about something's existence
Comparisons of inequality
Bigger, smaller, faster, slower: How to compare two things and use superlatives in Spanish
Directions in Spanish
How to ask directions, and a few common prepositions that will help you get there
Being sore or sick
How to talk about illnesses and afflictions in Spanish

Telling the time in Spanish

Even though everybody has a cellphone these days, there will probably come a moment in your life when you will need to ask someone what the time is.

(Most recently this happened to me after a 13 hour red-eye flight, when my phone battery was dead from playing one too many games of Candy Crush.)

Or there may come a time when an equally disoriented person will ask you the time. So here's how to be both the asker and answerer of time-related questions!

How to ask what the time is

Play
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
(Literally "What hour is it?")
Play
¿Tiene hora?
Do you have the time?
(Literally "Do you have the hour?")

Important: Even though Play audio "tiempo" means "time" (and, confusingly, "weather"), you never use the word "tiempo" to ask what the time is.

How to say what the time is

This is fairly simple, although there are a couple of little tricks:

Play
Es la una
It's one'o'clock
Play
Son las dos
It's two'o'clock
Play
Son las tres
It's three'o'clock
Play
Son las cuatro
It's four'o'clock
Play
Son las cinco
It's five'o'clock
Play
Son las seis
It's six'o'clock
Play
Son las siete
It's seven'o'clock
Play
Son las ocho
It's eight'o'clock
Play
Son las nueve
It's nine'o'clock
Play
Son las diez
It's ten'o'clock
Play
Son las once
It's eleven'o'clock
Play
Son las doce
It's twelve'o'clock

You'll see that the verb "ser" ("to be") goes before the time. This will always be "son", except for when you're saying "one'o'clock", when it will be "es".

You'll also see that the feminine article (la/las) goes before the number. It's feminine because it's referring to "la hora". Again, this will always be "las", except in the case of one'o'clock, when it's the singular "la", because it's just one hour

You might also hear:

Play
Es el mediodía
It's noon / midday
Play
Es la medianoche
It's midnight

Is it morning or evening?

In many Spanish-speaking countries, you'll use the 24-hour clock, so you won't need to clarify whether that dentist appointment is at two in the afternoon, or two in the morning.

But in case you do, you'll do it like this:

Play
Son las dos de la mañana
It's two in the morning
Play
Son las dos de la tarde
It's two in the afternoon
Play
Son las ocho de la noche
It's eight in the evening
When does "the night" start?

In most English speaking countries you'd probably start talking about "the night/evening" around 6pm. But in a lot of Spanish-speaking countries, you wouldn't roll out the "de la noche" until around 8pm.

And when it's not exactly on the hour?

Most of the time it won't be exactly 2'o'clock, so here's how to deal with that:

1:40
Play
Es la una y cuarenta
It's one forty
(Literally "It's one and forty")
1:40
Play
Son las dos menos veinte
It's twenty minutes to two
(Literally "It's two minus twenty")
1:45
Play
Es la una y cuarenta y cinco
It's one forty-five
(Literally "It's one and forty-five")
1:45
Play
Son las dos menos cuarto
It's a quarter to two
(Literally "It's two minus a quarter")
2:10
Play
Son las dos y diez
It's ten past two
(Literally "It's two and ten")
2:15
Play
Son las dos y cuarto
It's quarter past two
(Literally "It's two and a quarter")
2:30
Play
Son las dos y media
It's half past two
(Literally "It's two and a half")

Did you see how there are two ways of saying "twenty to two" or "quarter to two"? Just like we can either say "it's one forty" or "it's twenty to two", you can do the same thing in Spanish.

Saying when something will happen

When you want to talk about what time a class is, or what time you'll meet someone, you'd use "at" in English. ("I'll meet you at seven"). In Spanish you'll use "a las..."

Play
Tengo mi clase de español a las cinco
I have my Spanish class at five
Play
¿Nos encontramos a las siete?
Shall we meet at seven?
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Free Spanish Lessons

Spanish greetings
Question words in Spanish
Formal vs. informal "you"
Spanish plurals
Definite and indefinite articles in Spanish
Negating statements
How to use adjectives in Spanish
Ser vs Estar: The two kinds of "to be"
Weather vocabulary!
Feelings and moods
Telling the time
¿Dónde está? or ¿Dónde hay?
Comparisons of inequality
Directions in Spanish
Being sore or sick

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Spanish false cognates ("false friends")

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