Spanish grammar, explained with pictures › La hora

A1To tell the time you only need two verb forms: es la una (it is one o’clock) and son las dos, las tres… Then add minutes with y (past) or menos (to). The clocks below show every case.

Es la una · Son las dos

• 1Es la una. Es la una y media. It's one. It's half past one.
• 2–12Son las dos. Son las ocho y diez. It's two. It's ten past eight.

De la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche

Son las ocho de la mañana.It's 8 a.m.	Son las cuatro de la tarde.It's 4 p.m.	Son las diez de la noche.It's 10 p.m.

¿Qué hora es? · ¿A qué hora?

• ¿A qué hora abres? — A las ocho. What time do you open? — At eight.
• ¿A qué hora comes? — A la una. What time do you eat? — At one.

Examples

Es la una.	It's one o'clock.
Son las dos.	It's two o'clock.
Son las tres en punto.	It's three o'clock sharp.
Son las cinco.	It's five o'clock.
y cuarto	quarter past
y media	half past
menos cuarto	quarter to
y diez	ten past

Quick check

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