Telling time in Spanish is not complicated, although first and more important you need to be confident with the numbers. Notice the examples below:
¿Qué hora es? (What time it is?)
Son las doce y media (It 12:30)
Es la una menos cuarto (It is 12:45)
¿A qué hora te despiertas? (What time do you wake up?)
A las 7:30 (at 7:30)
How to tell time in Spanish
As you can see above, to say or ask the time in Spanish we use the verb SER, first the hours are said and then the minutes are added or subtracted.
01:05 Es la una y cinco
01:30 Es la una y media
01.45 Son las dos menos cuarto
01:55 Son las dos menos cinco.
The most common way of telling time in Spanish is using the analog format, using the cardinal numbers from 1 to 12.
In the video below you will be able to see better how to tell the time in Spanish. You must watch the video several times and repeat what you hear to practice.
Telling time in Spanish practice
Time to work with some basic quizzes, interactive exercises, and word games, to practice what you have learned until now. Remember to contact your tutor if you have any questions about how to ask for or say the time in Spanish. Don’t you have a Spanish tutor yet?
Learning more about the time in Spanish
Now to review everything we have done and learn even more about how to ask and say the time in Spanish, we have a second video, by Sergi Martin, a bit more advance. Remember to repeat as much as you can that will help to become confident and improve your pronunciation.
Now that you know how to say the time in Spanish, why don’t learn how to say dates. Sure you will find it quite useful!