Time
Spanish: Year 5 & 6 National Curriculum, topic 1.4.1
¿Qué hora es? - What Time Is It?
Es / Son
- There are only three times when you use 'es' for talking about time.
- Midday, midnight and one o'clock use 'es'.
- es la una - it is one o'clock
- es mediodía - it is midday
- es medianoche - it is midnight
- For all other times, you use 'son'.
- son las tres - it is three o'clock
Past
- In Spanish, to say the time past the hour, you use 'y', which means 'and'.
- You literally join the hour and the minutes with 'y'.
- son las cuatro y media - it is half past four
- son las ocho y cuarto - it is quarter past eight
- son las cuatro y veinte - it is twenty past four
To
- To say it is 'something to' (minutes before the hour) in Spanish, you use 'menos'.
- It’s like saying the next hour minus the minutes left.
- es la una menos cinco - it is 5 to one
- son las dos menos cuarto - it is quarter to two
At ... o'clock
- To say 'at something o'clock' you need to use 'a'.
- a las once - at 11 o'clock
- a medianoche - at midnight
Test yourself on Time
You are in Spain and someone asks you what time it is. You look at your watch and see that it is '17:40'.
What do you say?You are in Spain and someone asks you what time it is. You look at your watch and see that it is '13:00'.
What do you say?What time is it?