Basic Time Vocabulary
In Spanish, time words are essential for everyday conversation. Words like hora (hour), minuto (minute), and segundo (second) help describe specific moments. For example, ¿Qué hora es? means "What time is it?" Other common terms include día (day), noche (night), mañana (morning), and tarde (afternoon).
Days and Months
Days of the week in Spanish are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, and domingo. Months are enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, and diciembre. These words are useful for scheduling and talking about dates.
Expressing Duration
To express duration, Spanish uses words like segundo (second), minuto (minute), hora (hour), día (day), semana (week), mes (month), and año (year). Phrases like durante (during) or por (for, in time) help explain how long something lasts. For example, Estudio español por una hora means "I study Spanish for an hour."
Telling Time
Telling time involves the verb ser (to be) combined with time words. For example, Es la una means "It is one o'clock" and Son las dos means "It is two o'clock." To express minutes past or before an hour, expressions like y cuarto (and a quarter), y media (and a half), and menos cuarto (quarter to) are used.
Temporal Prepositions
Temporal prepositions such as antes de (before), después de (after), desde (since), and hasta (until) help structure sentences about time. For example, Antes de la clase means "Before the class," and Hasta mañana means "Until tomorrow."
Useful Phrases
Common phrases related to time include ¿A qué hora? (At what time?), más tarde (later), ahora (now), pronto (soon), and nunca (never). These help in asking about or describing when events occur.
