How to tell the time in Spanish, lesson 2

Hello everyone and welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish!

Today we continue with the time; one never thinks about it that much, but there's a lot to say on the topic of time, isn't there?

Let's get started! First, how do you ask for the time? I'll give you four ways to ask:

1. ¿Qué hora es? - What time is it? (or What hour is it?)

2. ¿Me puede decir la hora? - Can you tell me the time? (Or 'Can you tell me the hour?')

3. ¿Me puede dar la hora? - Can you give me the time? (Or 'Can you give me the hour?')

4. ¿Tiene la hora? - Do you have the time? (Or 'Do you have the hour?')

The vocabulary here:

¿Qué? - (keh) What?

Decir - (deh-seer) to tell; to say

(La) Hora - (la ho-rah) (the) hour; time

Dar - (dar) to give

Tiene - (tee-eh-neh) a form of the verb 'tener' which means 'to have'. Tiene translates to 'has' or 'have' when referring to another person.

Now I'll explain each one and where you should use it. The first one ¿Qué hora es? is the most common, but it's used when asking a person you know, or when asking yourself the time. Use it in casual settings.

¿Me puede decir la hora? Is more formal, and you use it when you need to ask the time to a person you don't know. You can add the word permiso or disculpe, which both translate to 'excuse me', in order to approach a person you don't know with more respect and humbleness. It becomes Permiso, ¿Me puede decir la hora? / Disculpe, ¿Me puede decir la hora? - Excuse me, can you tell me the time?

¿Me puede dar la hora? Is a variation of the above example. In this case you're asking the person to give you the time, so it's assumed the person has a clock. As in the above example, you can add either the word permiso or disculpe. 

Lastly, ¿Tiene la hora? Is asking if the other person has the time. They will reply whether or not they can tell you the time, and if they can, they will also proceed to tell you the time. This one can be used in any setting, but saying 'tiene' makes it more formal; to make it casual, say 'tienes'. Like in the above examples, you can also add permiso or disculpe for humbleness. Disculpe, ¿Tiene la hora? / Permiso, ¿Tiene la hora?

Now, there are a few ways to say the hour. In the previous lesson I showed you how to say the hour at different times of day (and night). You learned how to say 'son las ocho de la mañana, for example. But there are more ways to say the hour, like for example 'it's a quarter to ten' or 'half past one' or 'It's six o'clock'. Here's how you do it:

(If you haven't read the lessons on how to say the numbers, I recommend you check them out first in order to understand this part of the lesson better: Lesson 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. You should also check out the previous lesson on how to say the time.)

To say the hour 'o'clock', add 'en punto' to the hour:

9:00 - Las nueve en punto

6:00 - Las seis en punto

You can also just say the hour, and leave it there. Like for example 9:00 - Las nueve.

To say the minutes, simple add 'y' and the minutes, to the hour:

8:05 - Las ocho y cinco

8:10 - Las ocho y diez

5:26 - Las cinco y veintiséis

For the quarter of the hour, add 'y cuarto':

7:15 - las siete y cuarto

Of course, you can also say 'las siete y quince'.

For thirty minutes past the hour, say 'y media':

5:30 - Las cinco y media

You can also say 'las cinco y treinta'.

To say it's a quarter to the hour, there are two ways to say it:

Falta un cuarto para las diez - It's a quarter to ten

Son las diez menos cuarto - It's a quarter to ten (literally, 'It's ten minus a quarter')

Now you should be able to tell the time. You can add the time of day to the hour, to be more descriptive, like for example, 'son las ocho y cuarto de la noche'.

Practice saying the hour now, and read the following. I'll give you the answers below:

9:15

6:25

8:00

10:30

11:00

12:02

4:05

3:10

5:45

An additional note about time. In Spanish, we also add 'am' and 'pm' to the morning and afternoon hours, as in English.

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This is it, I hope you have enjoyed this lesson, and that you found it useful! I hope the information is not too much for one post, and that you can understand; making things simple for you is what I'm all about here, so don't doubt in contacting me if you have any doubt. You can contact me on my Facebook Page or my Twitter page. Also, you can leave a comment.

Until next time!

*Answers:

Las nueve y cuarto / Las nueve y quince

Las seis y veinticinco

Las ocho en punto

Las diez y media / Las diez y treinta

Las once en punto / Las once

Las doce y dos

Las cuatro y cinco

Las tres y diez

Las cinco y cuarenta y cinco / Las seis menos cuarto