How to tell the time in Spanish – Episode 006

How to tell the time in Spanish

Podcast episode 6 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Today’s question comes from Steve, one of my Twitter followers. Steve says: “How do you tell the time in Spanish? I’ve found a couple of websites with some examples, but I don’t know how to say them. Can you help me?”

Of course I can. That’s why I’ve created this podcast.

And today we’re going to learn how to say the hour and the half hour.

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

This is how you tell the time in Spanish

So let’s say the twelve hours in Spanish. Repeat after me:

es la una – it’s one o’clock
son las dos – it’s two o’clock
son las tres – it’s three o’clock
son las cuatro – it’s four o’clock
son las cinco – it’s five o’clock
son las seis – it’s six o’clock
son las siete – it’s seven o’clock
son las ocho – it’s eight o’clock
son las nueve – it’s nine o’clock
son las diez – it’s ten o’clock
son las once – it’s eleven o’clock
son las doce – it’s twelve o’clock

Let’s say the twelve hours again. Repeat after me.
 
Notice the difference between “es la una” (it’s one o’clock) and all the other hours: son las dos, son las tres, son las cuatro, etc.

Notice that “es la una” is the only hour that takes the verb form “es”. All the other hours take the verb form “son”.

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

Telling the time in Spanish: half hours

Let’s now go through the half hours:
 
es la una y media – it’s half past one
son las dos y media – it’s half past two
son las tres y media – it’s half past three
son las cuatro y media – it’s half past four
son las cinco y media – it’s half past five
son las seis y media – it’s half past six
son las siete y media – it’s half past seven
son las ocho y media – it’s half past eight
son las nueve y media – it’s half past nine
son las diez y media – it’s half past ten
son las once y media – it’s half past eleven
son las doce y media – it’s half past twelve

Let’s go through the twelve half hours again.

How to tell the time in Spanish: drill

And now let’s do a speaking drill. Can you tell me the time in Spanish?

it’s half past eleven – son las once y media
it’s three o’clock – son las tres
it’s half past eight – son las ocho y media
it’s six o’clock – son las seis
it’s half past nine – son las nueve y media
it’s twelve o’clock – son las doce
it’s half past seven – son las siete y media
it’s one o’clock – es la una
it’s half past two – son las dos y media
it’s four o’clock – son las cuatro

To recap, let’s say the hours and the half hours once again.

To help you master topics like telling the time, I’ve created a Spanish video course. A course with plenty real of conversations and role playing exercises. It also has pronunciation practice, and vocabulary flashcards where you can learn new words really easily.

Find out more about my Spanish courses.