Telling the Time in Spanish: A Simple Guide for Beginners

Telling the time is essential for catching trains, making reservations and arranging to meet — and once you know your numbers, Spanish time is mostly a small set of patterns.

Asking for the time

¿Qué hora es? — What time is it? You can also ask ¿Tiene hora? (Do you have the time?).

Saying the hour: "es la" vs "son las"

Use es la only for one o'clock (because una is singular); use son las for everything else:

Time	Spanish
It's 1:00	Es la una
It's 2:00	Son las dos
It's 5:00	Son las cinco
It's 10:00	Son las diez

Minutes: past and to the hour

For minutes past the hour, add y; for minutes to the next hour, use menos:

Time	Spanish
2:10	Son las dos y diez
2:15	Son las dos y cuarto
2:30	Son las dos y media
2:45	Son las tres menos cuarto
2:50	Son las tres menos diez

So cuarto is "quarter" and media is "half" — just like English.

Morning, afternoon and night

Add de la mañana (in the morning), de la tarde (in the afternoon) or de la noche (at night): Son las ocho de la mañana. In timetables you'll often meet the 24-hour clock: las 14:00 = las catorce horas.

"At" what time

To say when something happens, use a la / a las: El tren sale a las nueve. (The train leaves at nine.) ¿A qué hora…? means "At what time…?".

Make it automatic by saying it

Times stick when you use them in context. Navoq has you ask and answer about real schedules — trains, meetings, opening hours — out loud, with pronunciation feedback, so telling the time stops being a scramble.

Telling the time in Spanish