This basic lesson focuses on how to ask for and tell the time of day in Spanish, as well as expressing the days of the week. Compared to other topics, it is fortunately one that you may be able to read through just a couple of times, and get the hang of it. Don’t be afraid to read it out loud!! Try asking yourself the questions, and then responding back.

¿Qué hora es? Is equivalent to “What time is it?”

In expressing time, “It is” is expressed by “Es la” (for one o’clock), and “Son las” for other hours (two o’clock, three o’clock, and so on).

For example:

Es la una – It’s one o’clock.

– Son las dos (tres) – It’s two (three) o’clock.

Time past the hour (up to half past) is expressed by the hour + y, followed by the number of minutes. “Half past” is expressed by “y media”; “a quarter past” is expressed by “y cuarto”.

For example:

Es la una y diez – It’s ten (minutes) after one. It’s 1:10.

– Son las seis y media – It’s half past six. It’s 6:30.

– Son las diez y cuarto – It’s a quarter after ten. It’s 10:15.

Alter half past, the time is expressed in terms of the following hour “menos” (minus) the minutes.

For example:

Son las dos menos veinte – It’s twenty minutes to two. It’s 1:40.

– Son las nueve menos cuarto – It’s a quarter to nine. It’s 8:45.

A more difficult, yet common approach is to use “faltar” (missing) instead of menos.

Faltan quince para que sean las nueve. – It’s fifteen minutes to nine. It’s 8:45.

Try the “menos” approach first, and then try to add the “faltar” approach to your repertoire.

The expresión “de la mañana” corresponds to English “a.m.” (in the morning), “de la tarde” (in the afternoon) and “de la noche” (in the evening) correspond to English “p.m.”, “en punto” means “sharp” or “on the dot.”

For example:

Son las ocho de la mañana – It’s 8:00 a.m.

Es la una de la tarde – It’s 1:00 p.m.

– Son las ocho de la noche en punto – It’s 8:00 p.m (exactly).

NOTE

Instead of “media” and “cuarto”, the number of minutes may be used (treinta, quince).

For example:

Son las cinco y treinta – It’s five-thirty. It’s half past five.

– Es la una y quince – It’s one-fifteen. It’s a quarter past one.

It’s not uncommon to heat times like 12:45 and 12:50 expressed with “y”.

For example:

Son las doce y cuarenta y cinco – It’s twelve-forty-five.

– Son las doce y cincuenta – It’s twelve-fifty.

Otherwise:

Es la una menos cuarto

Es la una menos diez

Common time expresions:

¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?

¿A qué hora? – At what time?

A las dos (tres) – at two (three) o’clock

de la mañana – in the morning, a.m.

de la tarde – in the afternoon, p.m.

de la noche – at night, p.m.

Es mediodía – It’s noon

a mediodía – at noon

Es medianoche – It’s midnight

a medianoche – at midnight

Es tarde – It’s late

Es temprano – It’s early

a tiempo – on time

En punto – exactly, sharp

Now on to days and dates:

Days of the week (Los días de la semana)

lunes – Monday

martes – Tuesday

miércoles – Wednesday

jueves – Thursday

viernes – Friday

sábado – Saturday

domingo – Sunday

fin de semana – Weekend

NOTE

“On” before a day of the week is expressed by “el” for the singular and “los” for the plural.

El / los lunes – on Monday / Mondays

El / los martes – on Tuesday / Tuesdays

El / los miércoles – on Wednesday / Wednesdays

El / los jueves – on Thursday / Thursdays

El / los viernes – on Friday / Fridays

El / los sábado(s) – on Saturday / Saturdays

El / los domingo(s) – on Sunday / Sundays

El / los fin(es) de semana – on the weekend/ on the weekends

Note that the days of the week whose names end in –s do not change their form in the plural.

The days of the week are not capitalized in Spanish.

Months (meses)

Enero – January

Febrero – February

Marzo – March

Abril – April

Mayo – May

Junio – June

Julio – July

Agosto – August

Septiembre – September

Octubre – October

Noviembre – November

Diciembre – December

NOTE: Like the days of the week, the months are written with lowercase (small) letters in Spanish.

Dates

¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? – What is today date?

¿A cuánto estamos hoy? ­– What is today date?

Es el primero de enero – It’s January 1.

Estamos a primero de enero – It’s January 1.

Es el dos de febrero – It’s is February 2.

Es el tres (cuatro) de mayo – It’s May 3 (4).

Mil ochocientos doce – 1812

El quince de abril de mil novecientos noventa y seis – April 15, 1996

Some other tips

Cardinal numbers are used for all dates except “primero” (first).

el primero de abril – April 1(st)

– el tres (cuatro, cinco) de abril – April 3 (4, 5)

In English we can say past years by hundreds alone (ie. How we say “seventeen HUNDRED fifty” for 1750). The year is expressed in Spanish by thousands and hundreds: “Mil setecientos cincuenta”, literally: one thousand seven hundred fifty.

The date and month are connected by the preposition “de”. The month and the year are also connected by “de”.

el diez de junio de mil ochocientos cuarenta – (on) June 10, 1840.

With dates, el corresponds to “on”.

El diez de abril. – On April 10.

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