Asking and Telling the Time in Spanish
Do you know how to ask for the time in Spanish? Do you know how to answer? Is there more than one way of asking for it? With this post you’ll learn all you need to know about the time in Spanish. We’ll start with the basis and then we’ll see some more advanced time-related expressions.
As we say in Spanish El tiempo es oro (time is gold), so… let’s start!
How to Ask for the Time in Spanish
Asking for the time in Spanish is quite easy, you just need to say: ¿Qué hora es?
But, wait a second… How do you ask someone on the street for the time? Do you just say: Hola, ¿qué hora es? Well, there’s a common phrase we use in these kinds of situations:
Perdone, ¿tiene hora? (formal)
Perdona, ¿tienes hora? (informal)
It’s an expression to check if the person you’re asking has a watch or a phone and they can really tell you the time. But this is something we use in Spanish from Spain, not in Latin American Spanish.
If tiempo means ‘time’, can you ask: ¿qué tiempo es? or ¿tienes tiempo? No, you can’t. The first question doesn’t make any sense in Spanish at all, and the second one literally means: Do you have time? For example:
¿Tienes tiempo para un café?
(Do you have time for a coffee?)
¿Tenéis tiempo ahora? Necesito hablar con vosotras.
(Do you have time right now? I need to talk to you.)
Can we use the same question (¿Qué hora es?) to ask about time tables and schedules? Yes, but it’s not exactly the same one. You need to add the preposition a before qué: ¿A qué hora + verb? Have a look at these examples:
¿A qué hora empiezas a trabajar?
(At what time do you start working?)
¿A qué hora abre el supermercado?
(At what time does the supermarket open?)
¿A qué hora desayunas normalmente?
(At what time do you normally have breakfast?)
How to Tell the Time in Spanish
Now that you know how to ask for the time in Spanish, let’s take a look at how to tell the time, or in Spanish cómo se dice la hora.
In Spanish, you use the verb SER to talk about time. Do you need to freshen up your knowledge about SER and ESTAR or about numbers in Spanish? Take a look at our previous blog posts:
Analog Time (12-hour clock)
Analog clock might seem like something from the past, but most Spanish speakers use the analog form to tell the time. So if you want to blend in and understand them, you must learn this way of telling the time. Don’t worry, it’s simpler that it looks.
How do we answer the question ¿Qué hora es? It’s easy, you just need to follow this structure:
Son las + hour + y /menos + minutes
Let’s see how this works, step by step:
en punto (o’clock)
In Spanish you can say: Son las cuatro en punto, or just: Son las cuatro. The choice is yours!
y (past)
Son las hour + y + minutes that have past
We say y cuarto (quarter past) instead of y quince (fifteen past), and y media (half past) instead of y treinta (thirty past).
menos (to)
Here you have an infographic with all the important information we’ve given you about telling the time. Use it as a cheat sheet until you feel confident enough.
¡Atención!
From 00:31 to 01:30 and from 12:31 to 13:30 we say Es la una..., instead of Son las una... because one is singular.
Es la una menos diez, es la una en punto, es la una y cuarto...
Military Time (24-hour clock)
Another option is to use the 24-hour clock and say Son las dieciséis, instead of saying Son las cuatro, although this is less common in daily-life situations. To help you out remembering the key numbers for this, we have an overview of the numbers until 24:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
|
uno |
one |
|
dos |
two |
|
tres |
three |
|
cuatro |
four |
|
cinco |
five |
|
seis |
six |
|
siete |
seven |
|
ocho |
eight |
|
nueve |
nine |
|
diez |
ten |
|
once |
eleven |
|
doce |
twelve |
|
trece |
thirteen |
|
catorce |
fourteen |
|
quince |
fifteen |
|
dieciséis |
sixteen |
|
diecisiete |
seventeen |
|
dieciocho |
eighteen |
|
diecinueve |
nineteen |
|
veinte |
twenty |
|
veintiuno |
twenty-one |
|
veintidós |
twenty-two |
|
veintitrés |
twenty-three |
|
veinticuatro |
twenty-four |
Wait a second… how do we know if we’re talking about four in the morning or in the afternoon with analog time?? Well, you need to add the preposition de + the part of the day. Have a look at this examples:
Siempre ceno a las diez de la noche.
La serie empieza a las veintidós (horas).
Estudio en la biblioteca a las cinco y media de la tarde.
El tren sale a las diecisiete treinta.
✏️ Test Your Knowledge
12 Time-Related Expressions in Spanish
Finally, there are also a few time-related sayings and other expressions in Spanish. Here you have a list with the most common ones:
- El tiempo es oro. - Time is gold.
- El tiempo vuela. - Time flies.
- El tiempo lo cura todo. - Time heals everything.
- Más vale tarde que nunca. - Better late than never.
- A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda. - The early birds get God’s help.
- A mal tiempo, buena cara. - Have a positive attitude during bad times.
- SER una persona adelantada a su tiempo. - To be a person ahead of their time.
- Ya era hora. - It's about time.
- A buenas horas. - It's an ironic expression we use to let someone else know the right time to do something has passed.
- Aprovechar el tiempo. - To make the most of your time.
- Hacer tiempo. - To kill time.
- Perder el tiempo. - To waste time.
Do you want to learn more? Take a look at our blog post about the Days of the Week, Months and Seasons in Spanish.
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