Spanish Grammar: Time of Day
In Spanish, when stating the time of day the word hora is understood, and the feminine articles la or las are used with the numerals corresponding to the hours. Es is used only when followed by la una. The other hours are expressed by the plural of ser - son plus the feminine article. To express a fractional time, the hour and the number of minutes past the hour are joined by the conjunction y.
The formula is as follows:
Ser + the feminine definite article + a cardinal number
Es la una.
It is one o'clock.
But:
Son las tres y media.
It is half past three.
Son las cuatro y cuarto (quince).
It is a quarter past four.
Son las cinco menos cuarto (quince).
It is a quarter to five.
Son las seis y diez.
It is ten minutes past six.
Son las ocho menos diez.
It is ten minutes to eight.
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Special time-words
The following are some examples of a few English special time-words such as noon - el mediodía and midnight medianoche.
Son las nueve en punto.
It is nine o'clock sharp.
Son a eso de las diez.
It is about ten o'clock.
Son las once y pico.
It is a little after eleven.
Es mediodía (medianoche).
It is noon (midnight).
¿A qué hora?
At what time?
Mi reloj adelanta (atrasa).
My watch is fast (slow).
Mi reloj está adelantado (está atrasado).
My watch is fast (slow).
A las nueve de la mañana
At nine o'clock in the morning
A las dos de la tarde
At two o' clock in the afternoon
A las diez de la noche
At ten o 'clock at night
El no llegó a hora.
He did not come on time.
El tren está adelantado.
The train is ahead of time.
El tren llegó una hora atrasado (con una hora de retraso).
The train was an hour late.
Llegó a tiempo para tomar el tren.
He arrived in time to catch the train.
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Using CUARTO, MEDIA, MENOS, Y, in telling TIME
In telling time up to the half-hour use the hour, followed by y and the number of minutes. After half past the hour, use the next hour followed by menos (minus) and the number of minutes to be subtracted. Cuarto or quince is used for quarter-hours and media or treinta for the half-hour.
las ocho menos veinte
7:40
las once menos diez
10:50
Son las diez y media.
It's half past ten.
Son las ocho y media.
It's half past eight.
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Using DE AND POR to express the TIME OF DAY
When the hour is not specified, the preposition por is generally used to indicate the time of day during which something takes place, as in the morning (por la mañana), in the afternoon or in the evening (por la tarde), and in the night or at night (por la noche).
Ellos llegaron por la tarde.
They arrived in the afternoon (or evening).
When the hour is mentioned, the preposition de (usually meaning of or from, but here meaning in) is used when the definite hour or time by the clock is expressed.
Ellos llegaron a las tres y media de la tarde.
They arrived at three-thirty (half past three) in the afternoon.
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Using DAR to expess TIME
Another expression useful in indicating the time is: dar to strike (a certain hour).
Van a dar las cinco.
It is going to strike five.
Daba la una cuando llegamos a casa.
One o'clock was striking when we arrived home.
El reloj dio las seis.
The clock struck six.
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Using the imperfect tense to express the past
The imperfect tense is used to express time of day in the past.
¿Qué hora era?
What time was it?
Eran las dos cuando llegó.
It was two o'clock when he arrived.
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Using the conditional tense to express time
The conditional tense with time is used to express conjecture or probability.
¿Qué hora sería?
I wonder what time it was.
Serían las dos.
It
was probably two o'clock.
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Using the future tense to express time
The future tense is often used to express wonderment in the present time. This construction is called the future of probability.
¿Qué hora será?
I wonder what time it is.
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The English Word Time
There are several ways to translate the English word time.
To express the time of day use hora; to express time in a series, such
as this time, the first time (occasion), use vez; otherwise use tiempo.
¿A qué hora?
At what time?
La próxima vez avísame.
Next time let me know.
Me costó mucho tiempo encontrarlo.
It took me a long time to find it.
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Asking THE time
To ask the time, use:
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
¿A qué hora...?
At what time...?
¿Qué hora era?
What time was it?
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Keeping time
Some common useful expressions used in connection with a watch or a clock are: adelantar to be fast, atrasar to be slow, dar cuerda a to wind, and poner en hora to set:
Voy a dar cuerda a mi reloj, porque atrasa.
I am going to wind my watch because it is slow.
Nuestro reloj adelanta; tendremos que ponerlo en hora.
Our clock is fast; we will have to set it.
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Idiomatic Present and Idiomatic Past
IDIOMATIC PRESENT
An action begun in the past and continuing in the present is expressed by the present tense in Spanish, whereas it takes the present perfect in English. When we say He has been here for two hours we mean that the person came two hours ago and is still here.
Spanish says Hace dos horas que está aquí, using the present tense está for the English has been. Notice that the word for is not expressed in this case.
To translate this type of sentence you use hace + the length of time + the present tense of the verb in question. In asking a question you use ¿desde cuándo? + the present tense in Spanish, corresponding to how long + the present perfect in English. This is known as the idiomatic present.
¿Desde cuándo estudia Ud. el español?
How long have you been studying Spanish?
IDIOMATIC PAST
Likewise, an action begun prior to the time of the main action and continued up to the time of the main action takes the imperfect tense in Spanish, whereas it takes the pluperfect tense in English. When we say He had been watching the game for an hour when the ball hit him, we mean that the action of watching had begun prior to the hitting and was still going on when the ball hit.
Spanish would say Hacía una hora que miraba el juego cuando la pelota le pegó, using the imperfect miraba where English used the pluperfect had been watching. In this type of sentence Spanish uses hacía + the expression of time + the imperfect tense of the verb involved. This is known as the idiomatic past.
Hacía más de una hora que esperaba.
I had been waiting more than an hour.
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Idiomatic Expressions of TIME
la semana pasada (last week)
Lo vi la semana pasada.
I saw him last week.
la semana que viene (next week)
Saldrán para el Perú la semana que viene.
They will leave for Peru next week.
el mes (año) pasado (last month (year))
Llegaron el mes pasado.
They arrived last month.
el mes (año) que viene (next month (year))
Vamos a Sudamérica el mes que viene.
We are going to South America next month.
por la mañana (tarde) (in the morning (afternoon))
Tenemos clases por la mañana y por la tarde.
We have classes in the morning and in the afternoon.
por la noche (at night)
Siempre estamos en casa por la noche.
We are always at home at night.
mañana por la mañana (tarde, noche) (tomorrow morning (afternoon, night))
Él me va a llamar mañana por la mañana; mañana por la tarde no estaré en casa.
He is going to call me tomorrow morning; tomorrow afternoon I won't be at home.
ayer por la mañana (tarde, noche) (yesterday morning (afternoon, night))
Hablé con él ayer por la mañana y con ella ayer por la tarde.
I spoke with him yesterday morning and with her yesterday afternoon.
esta noche - anoche (tonight - last night)
Fuimos al cine anoche. Esta noche vamos a quedarnos en casa.
Last night we went to the movies. Tonight we are going to remain at home.
anteayer - pasado mañana (the day before yesterday - the day after tomorrow)
Salió para Nueva York anteayer. Volverá pasado mañana.
He left for New York the day before yesterday. He will return the day after tomorrow.
toda la semana (all week)
Ha estado enferma toda la semana.
She has been sick all week.
todo el día (mes, año) (all day (month, year))
Estuve todo el día en la biblioteca.
I was in the library all day.
todos los días (every day)
Viene aquí todos los días.
He comes here every day.
todas las noches (every night)
Miran televisión todas las noches.
They watch television every night.
de día (noche) (by day, night.)
En esa fábrica trabajan de día y de noche.
In that factory they work day and night.
al día siguiente (the day after, on the following day)
Le escribimos el jueves y contestó al día siguiente.
We wrote him on Thursday and he answered on the following day.
hoy en día (today, nowadays)
Hoy en día hay mucho tráfico en las carreteras.
Nowadays there is a lot of traffic on the highways.
ahora mismo (right now)
Voy a salir ahora mismo.
I am going to leave right now.
hasta la vista (until we meet again)
Lo único que ella sabe decir en español es "Hasta la vista. "
The only thing she knows how to say in Spanish is "Until we meet again."
hasta mañana (until tomorrow)
Cuando se fue, me dijo "Hasta mañana."
When he left, he said to me "Until tomorrow."
hasta luego (until we see each other later)
Volverá pronto porque me dijo "Hasta luego. "
He'll return soon because he said to me, "I'll see you later."
¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?)
¿Qué hora es? Son las dos menos cinco.
What time is it? It's five minutes to two.
A qué hora (at what time)
¿A qué hora sale el avión para Caracas?
What time does the plane for Caracas leave?
dentro de poco (soon)
Dentro de poco usted hablará español bien.
You will soon speak Spanish well.