Telling Time

Time vocabulary centers on hora, minuto, and common markers like mediodía and medianoche that anchor times of day. Familiarity with these terms makes it easy to ask for and give the time.

The standard question to ask for the time is ¿Qué hora es? but there are polite and situational variants that use tienes or me dices. Learn a couple ways to ask so you can adapt to context.

Times are typically given with es la for 1:00 and son las for all other hours, followed by the number of the hour. Use the feminine article because hora is feminine and time is treated as a phrase like "la una."

Minutes are added after the hour using y for minutes past the hour and menos for minutes before the next hour. Time is usually rounded to the nearest minute and told in simple phrases like y cinco or menos cuarto.

Special terms like cuarto for 15 minutes and media for 30 minutes make time-telling quick and idiomatic. Use y cuarto, y media and menos cuarto for common half and quarter times.

Adding de la mañana, de la tarde or de la noche clarifies whether a time is in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Use these phrases to avoid confusion and to sound natural when giving times for events.

Learn to ask ¿Qué hora es?, use es la / son las for the hour, add minutes with y or menos, and specify the part of the day with phrases like de la mañana. Practice these patterns aloud with actual times to make telling time instinctive.