Lesson 7 - Horario de Clases (School Schedule)
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Pages in this lesson: School Subjects - Time - Dialogue - Reading - Quiz
This page: Learn how to tell time in Spanish.
Time
Grammar Lesson
How do you tell time in Spanish?
To ask about the time, you say, "¿Qué hora es?" To give the time you use the verb ser (to be). If it's one o'clock (or one + something), you use the singular form es. If it's two o'clock or after, you use the plural form son.
- ¿Qué hora es? = What time is it?
- Es la una. = It's one o'clock.
- Son las dos. = It's two o'clock.
- Son las tres. = It's three o'clock.
- Son las cuatro. = It's four o'clock.
Practice
Section 1
Write the time in Spanish. Don't forget to use correct capitalization, accents and punctuation, or the computer will mark it as incorrect.
- Example:
- 3:00 - Son las tres.
Describing time with minutes
To tell the minutes after the hour, you can just put the number of minutes after the hour, or you can use y (and) or con (with) before the number of minutes.
- Es la una veinte. = It's one twenty.
- Es la una y veinte. = It's one twenty.
- Es la una con veinte. = It's one twenty.
- Son las dos diez. = It's two ten.
- Son las dos y diez. = It's two ten.
- Son las dos con diez. = It's two ten.
Practice
Section 2
Select the correct time.
menos/para
You can also tell the number of minutes until the next hour using menos (minus). In Latin America para (as "until") is used to describe how many minutes until the next hour.
- Es la una menos diez. = It's ten minutes to one. (Literally, "It's one minus ten.") Spain
- Son diez para la una. = It's ten minutes to one. (Literally, "It's ten until one.") Latin America
- Son las dos menos cinco. = It's five minutes to two. (Literally, "It's two minus five.") Spain
- Son cinco para las dos. = It's five minutes to two. (Literally, "It's five until two.") Latin America
Practice
Section 3
Write the time using "menos."
- Example:
- 3:40 - Son las cuatro menos veinte.
Now write the same times using "para."
- Example:
- 3:40 - Son veinte para las cuatro.
Media/Cuarto
When it's 30 minutes after an hour, you can say media (half). When it's 15 minutes before or after the hour, you can use cuarto (quarter) to refer to a quarter of an hour.
- Son las diez y media. = It's ten thirty.
- Son las diez y cuarto. = It's ten fifteen. (Literally, "It's ten and a quarter.")
- Son las diez menos cuarto. = It's a quarter to ten. (Literally, "It's ten minus a quarter.") Spain
- Es un cuarto para las diez. = It's a quarter to ten. Latin America
Practice
Section 4
Write the time using "media" or "cuarto."
- Example:
- 3:15 - Son las tres y cuarto.
Other Time Expressions
-
► mediodía = noon
Es mediodía. = It's noon. -
► medianoche = midnight
Es medianoche. = It's midnight. -
► en punto = exactly
Son las dos en punto. = It's two o'clock exactly. -
► de la madrugada = in the early morning
Son las tres de la madrugada. = It's three o'clock in the early morning. -
► de la mañana = in the morning
Son las nueve de la mañana. = It's nine o'clock in the morning. -
► de la tarde = in the afternoon
Son las cuatro de la tarde. = It's four o'clock in the afternoon. -
► de la noche = at night
Son las diez de la noche. = It's ten o'clock at night.
Practice
Section 5
Use one of the time expressions below to describe the time.
mediodía | medianoche | de la madrugada | de la mañana | de la tarde | de la noche
- Example:
- 7:00 am - Son las siete de la mañana.
Find the mistake in the sentence and re-write it correctly in the space. Don't forget to use correct capitalization, accents and punctuation, or the computer will mark it as incorrect.
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Writing
Look at your watch. What time is it right now?
- Example:
- Son las dos y media.
If you want to type a special character (like an accented letter) in the comments section, you could do one of the following . . .
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Lesson 7 - Horario de Clases (Class Schedule)
School Subjects - Time - Dialogue - Reading - Quiz
Important Links
Pronouns - Pronunciation - Verbs
