Telling Time | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Telling time in Spanish is simple once you see the pattern: the verb ser carries the whole thing, and the hour takes a feminine article — even though hora never appears in the sentence. Get those two rules down and the rest is just addition.

Asking the time

The standard question is:

¿Qué hora es?

What time is it?

This is the form you'll hear almost everywhere in Latin America. The variant ¿Qué horas son? also exists in some regions (especially Mexico and Central America) and is equally polite.

Es la una versus son las dos

This is the one quirk that surprises learners the most. For one o'clock, Spanish uses the singular: es la una. For every other hour, it switches to the plural: son las dos, son las tres, and so on.

Time	Spanish
1:00	Es la una.
2:00	Son las dos.
3:00	Son las tres.
12:00	Son las doce.

Es la una en punto.

It is one o'clock exactly.

Son las siete de la mañana.

It is seven in the morning.

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Why feminine? Because the full sentence is Son las (horas) dos — hora is feminine, and although the noun is dropped, the article la / las keeps its gender. You don't have to think about this every time, just remember: always la or las before the number.

Minutes past the hour

To add minutes past the hour, use y ("and") followed by the minutes.

Time	Spanish
1:05	Es la una y cinco.
2:15	Son las dos y cuarto.
3:20	Son las tres y veinte.
4:30	Son las cuatro y media.

Two shorthand words replace specific numbers: cuarto for "fifteen" (a quarter) and media for "thirty" (half).

Nos vemos a las siete y media.

We meet at seven thirty.

La película empieza a las ocho y cuarto.

The movie starts at a quarter past eight.

Minutes before the hour

For times past the half-hour, Spanish usually counts toward the next hour using menos ("minus").

Time	Spanish	Literal
4:40	Son las cinco menos veinte.	five minus twenty
4:45	Son las cinco menos cuarto.	five minus a quarter
4:50	Son las cinco menos diez.	five minus ten

Son las cinco menos diez.

It is ten to five. (4:50)

In much of Latin America you'll also hear the alternative para las: Son diez para las cinco ("ten to five"). Both forms are correct and widely used.

De la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche

Spanish-speaking Latin America uses "AM/PM" rarely in everyday speech. Instead, you clarify with one of the three time-of-day phrases:

Phrase	Roughly
de la mañana	midnight to noon
de la tarde	noon to ~7 or 8 PM
de la noche	~7 PM to midnight
de la madrugada	midnight to ~5 AM (very early)

Use de la only when a specific time is given. For general talk ("in the morning") the word is por: por la mañana.

Tengo una reunión a las tres de la tarde.

I have a meeting at three in the afternoon.

Llegó a las once de la noche.

He arrived at eleven at night.

Exact time: en punto and mediodía

en punto — "exactly, on the dot"
mediodía — noon (12 PM)
medianoche — midnight (12 AM)

La clase empieza a las nueve en punto.

The class starts at nine sharp.

Comemos a mediodía los domingos.

We have lunch at noon on Sundays.

The preposition a for "at"

To say something happens at a time, use a plus the same article + number you'd use to tell the hour.

Spanish	English
a la una	at one
a las tres y media	at three thirty
a las ocho en punto	at eight sharp

El tren sale a las seis y cuarto.

The train leaves at six fifteen.

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Don't confuse es/son + las (stating what time it is) with a las (saying when something happens). Son las tres = "it is three o'clock." A las tres = "at three o'clock." You'll use both in nearly every conversation about schedules.

The 24-hour clock

Spanish-speaking countries use the 24-hour clock for schedules, tickets, and formal announcements — airports, trains, TV listings, government offices. In these contexts, de la tarde and friends are dropped because the hour itself already tells you the time of day.

El vuelo despega a las dieciocho horas.

The flight takes off at 18:00 (6 PM).

Now that you can ask and answer ¿Qué hora es?, you're ready to combine numbers with schedules, dates, and measurements. For the articles that underlie telling time, see articles with days and dates. For the core number forms, review Cardinal Numbers 0–30.