Spanish Grammar Explained /
The time
Telling the time is important in every language, but for most of the Spanish speaking countries, time is not that relevant.
How can it not be relevant? I don't believe you!
Don't get me wrong. It's widely known that Hispanic people don't consider time super seriously. We have all mastered the concept to always arrive late.
I have heard that, but is it actually true?
I might be exaggerating. But let's see how we express the time in Spanish!
| 12:00 16:00 | Son las | doce en punto. cuatro en punto. |
| 14:15 17:15 | Son las | dos y cuarto. cinco y cuarto. |
| 15:30 19:30 | Son las | tres y media. siete y media. |
| 20:45 10:45 | Son las | nueve menos cuarto. once menos cuarto. |
In some countries you will hear:
20:45 → Es un cuarto para las nueve.
10:45 → Es un cuarto para las once.
When we talk about a single hour, we put the verb in singular as it's one single item!
Es la una en punto.
And what if it's just some minutes past or to a time?
Do you mean times like 12:10 or 15:40?
Yeah. How do you say that?
It's easy. Check what's repeated in when we say it's quarter past or half past.
There's an y before!
Yes, if minutes are past a time, we simply add y.
12:10 → Son las doce y diez.
It's ten past twelve.
09:25 → Son las nueve y veinticinco.
It's twenty-five past nine.
If it's some minutes to an hour we say:
10:40 → Son las once menos veinte.
It's twenty to eleven.
18:55 → Son las siete menos cinco.
It's five to seven.