Telling time in Spanish reuses the cardinal numbers you already know, but wraps them in a structure that has two quirks worth learning carefully: the verb ser changes between singular and plural depending on the hour, and the article la / las is part of the construction, never omitted. Get es la una vs son las dos right and the rest of the system falls into place.
Asking the time
The standard question is:
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
You will also hear ¿tienes hora? — "do you have the time?" — in the street, exactly like in English. To ask at what time something happens, the preposition a appears:
¿A qué hora empieza la peli?
What time does the film start?
¿A qué hora sale el AVE para Barcelona?
What time does the AVE train for Barcelona leave?
The one o'clock exception
This is the rule that catches every learner. One o'clock is singular — es la una — because la una (literally "the one") is grammatically singular. Every other hour is plural, because las dos, las tres, las cuatro and so on are grammatically plural.
Es la una en punto.
It's one o'clock sharp.
Son las dos y cuarto.
It's a quarter past two.
Son las once de la noche, deberíamos dormir ya.
It's eleven at night, we should be sleeping already.
Twelve o'clock has dedicated words for noon and midnight, both used with son las:
Son las doce en punto: ya es mediodía.
It's twelve sharp — it's already noon.
Llegó a casa a medianoche, cansadísima.
She got home at midnight, completely exhausted.
Minutes past and minutes to
Spanish splits the hour at the half-hour mark. From :01 to :30 you add minutes with y ("and"). From :31 to :59 you take minutes away from the next hour with menos ("minus"). This is the same logic English uses with "past" and "to."
| Time | Spanish |
|---|---|
| 3:00 | Son las tres en punto. |
| 3:05 | Son las tres y cinco. |
| 3:10 | Son las tres y diez. |
| 3:15 | Son las tres y cuarto. |
| 3:20 | Son las tres y veinte. |
| 3:25 | Son las tres y veinticinco. |
| 3:30 | Son las tres y media. |
| 3:35 | Son las cuatro menos veinticinco. |
| 3:40 | Son las cuatro menos veinte. |
| 3:45 | Son las cuatro menos cuarto. |
| 3:50 | Son las cuatro menos diez. |
| 3:55 | Son las cuatro menos cinco. |
Quedamos a las siete y media en la puerta del cine.
Let's meet at half past seven at the cinema entrance.
Salgo del trabajo a las seis menos cuarto.
I get off work at quarter to six.
El partido empieza a las nueve y diez, no te despistes.
The match starts at 9:10, don't get distracted.
Note that cuarto ("quarter") and media ("half") don't take an article in these expressions. Y cuarto, y media, menos cuarto are fixed phrases.
The 24-hour clock: transport, TV, formal contexts
Spain uses the 24-hour clock in print and on screens for transport timetables, television listings, opening hours, and any formal scheduling. When read aloud, the hour and minutes are simply spoken together as cardinals.
El AVE de Madrid a Sevilla sale a las catorce treinta y cinco.
The AVE from Madrid to Seville leaves at 14:35.
La película empieza a las veintidós quince.
The film starts at 22:15.
La consulta cierra a las diecinueve horas.
The clinic closes at 19:00 (7 p.m.).
In speech and in casual writing — texts, voice notes, daily conversation — the 12-hour clock takes over and the time of day is clarified with de la mañana / de la tarde / de la noche / de la madrugada.
De la mañana, tarde, noche, madrugada
There are four parts of the day, and their boundaries are looser than the English a.m./p.m. split.
| Phrase | Roughly |
|---|---|
| de la madrugada | after midnight until ~6 a.m. |
| de la mañana | from ~6 a.m. until lunch (around 14:00 in Spain) |
| de la tarde | from after lunch until ~21:00 (sunset/dinner) |
| de la noche | from ~21:00 until midnight |
Llamó a las tres de la madrugada, claro que no contesté.
He called at three in the morning, of course I didn't answer.
Comemos a las dos y media de la tarde, como casi todo el mundo aquí.
We eat lunch at 2:30 p.m., like nearly everyone here.
Cenamos a las diez de la noche, costumbre española.
We have dinner at ten at night, Spanish habit.
En punto and pasadas las: precision
To say a time is exact, on the dot, use en punto. For "just past" a time, use pasadas las (or pasada la for one o'clock).
El tren llegó a las ocho en punto, casi increíble.
The train arrived at eight on the dot, almost unbelievable.
Eran pasadas las once cuando por fin se fueron los invitados.
It was just past eleven when the guests finally left.
Vendrá sobre las seis.
He'll come around six.
The preposition sobre ("around, about") and the adverb más o menos ("more or less") are the casual ways to say "approximately." A eso de las seis is another common option.
Talking about elapsed time
To express how long something lasts or when something happened, watch the prepositions. A for the point in time, de … a … or desde … hasta … for ranges.
Trabajo de nueve a seis con una hora para comer.
I work from nine to six with an hour for lunch.
La biblioteca está abierta desde las ocho hasta las veintidós.
The library is open from eight until ten p.m.
Tengo clase a las cuatro.
I have class at four.
Common mistakes
❌ Es las dos.
Incorrect: only one o'clock is singular. Two and higher take son las.
✅ Son las dos.
It's two o'clock.
❌ Son la una.
Incorrect: una is singular, so the verb is es.
✅ Es la una.
It's one o'clock.
❌ Es la una y medio.
Incorrect: media is feminine in this fixed phrase.
✅ Es la una y media.
It's half past one.
❌ Son cuatro y diez.
Incorrect: the article las is obligatory before the hour.
✅ Son las cuatro y diez.
It's ten past four.
❌ Son las cinco en la tarde.
Incorrect: the phrase is de la tarde, not en la tarde.
✅ Son las cinco de la tarde.
It's five in the afternoon.
❌ El tren sale en las diez.
Incorrect: the preposition for a specific time is a, not en.
✅ El tren sale a las diez.
The train leaves at ten.
How telling time differs from English
The biggest structural difference is the verb: English uses one form ("it is") for every hour, while Spanish alternates between es (one o'clock) and son (every other hour). The article la / las is also part of the noun phrase and cannot be dropped — son las dos, never son dos. The other big difference is the day-segment vocabulary: English a.m. and p.m. mark twelve-hour halves with no further distinction, while Spanish carves the day into four named parts (madrugada, mañana, tarde, noche) whose boundaries follow the Spanish meal schedule rather than the clock. Knowing that las nueve de la noche is dinnertime, not an awkwardly late "evening," is part of what makes a learner sound at home in the language.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
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