Listening |
Watch the following video.
Aprender español: Las horas (Tu escuela de español, YouTube)
When talking about time, there are two very different questions:
To tell time in Spanish, use the following format:
Son + las + the hour + y/menos + the minutes (for all hours between 2 and 12).
OJO: When talking about the one o’clock hour, use the singular form of ser and the singular form of la.
Es + la + una + y/menos + minutes (for the 1 o’clock hour)
OJO: Once you get past the half-hour mark, you will express time by subtracting the minutes from the following hour
To tell at what time an event/class takes place, use the following format:
Es + a + la/las + the hour + y/menos + the minutes
Expresiones | |
de la mañana | in the morning (used when giving an exact time – ex. I wake up at 7:00 in the morning.) |
de la tarde | in the afternoon/evening (used when giving an exact time) |
de la noche | at night (used when giving an exact time) |
por la mañana | in the morning (used when NOT giving an exact time – ex. I do my homework in the evening.) |
por la tarde | in the afternoon/evening (used when NOT giving an exact time) |
por la noche | At night (used when NOT giving an exact time) |
Son las siete y cuarto. | It is 7:15. |
Son las siete y media. | It is 7:30. |
Es mediodía. | It is noon (12:00 pm) |
Es medianoche. | It is midnight (12:00 am) |
Son las siete en punto. | It is 7:00 on the dot. |
A la/las | At (time) (the la/las is not translated but must be there to make sense.) |
tarde | late (adverb) |
temprano | early (adverb) |
Desayuno a las nueve de la mañana. | I eat breakfast at nine in the morning. |
Desayuno por la mañana. | I eat breakfast in the morning. |
Actividades de conversación |
With a partner, take turns asking each other what time it is.
With a partner, look at Tomás’s schedule below. Take turns asking each other at what time he does different activities. Follow the model.
El horario (schedule) de Tomás | |
8:30 | Camina a la universidad |
9:00 | Estudia en la biblioteca |
10:15 | Levanta pesas en el gimnasio |
11:00 | Tiene clase de literatura |
12:30 | Trabaja en el centro de comunicaciones |
2:45 | Habla con amigos en Starbucks |
5:30 | Regresa a casa |
7:15 | Cena con su familia |
The information in this chapter, when not created by us, is adapted from:
This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.
Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/ventanas/hora.