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Reloj de Gobernación en Puerta del Sol, España. (Government Clock in Puerta del Sol, Spain.). Pablo López/Creative Commons. Updated on September 30, 2019 You can tell time in Spanish if you can count to 29 and learn a handful of words. It's that easy. Basic Rules for Telling Time in SpanishThe basic way of telling time in Spanish is to use the singular form of ser ("to be"), which is es, for one o'clock and the plural form, son, for other times. Minutes can be stated simply by separating them from the hour using y, the word for "and."
To indicate the half hour, use media (a word for "half"). Use cuarto (meaning "fourth") to indicate the quarter hours.
It is customary to use menos (a cognate of "minus") to tell time during the second half of each hour, stating the number of minutes until the following hour.
Key Takeaways: Telling Time in Spanish
How To Include Time Periods of the DayIn most of the Spanish-speaking world, both 12-hour and 24-hour clocks are used, the latter being common in schedules and similar printed materials. To indicate time of day when using the 12-hour clock, use de la madrugada for the wee hours of the morning, de la mañana from then until noon (mediodía or el mediodía), de la tarde between noon and early evening, and de la noche from evening to midnight (medianoche or la medianoche).
The abbreviations a.m. (from the Latin ante meridiem) and p.m. (from the Latin post meridiem) can also be used as in English.
Time in the Past, Future, and SubjunctiveWhen talking about the time that events took place, use the imperfect tense of ser.
The simple future tense or periphrastic future can be used if the event has yet to occur:
The subjunctive mood can also be used as needed:
Other Time ExpressionsHere are time-related expressions and words that can be useful:
Sample SentencesLos Bombers de Mallorca llegaron a la zona a las dos y media de la tarde. (The Mallorca Bombers arrive in the area at 2:30 p.m.) Era más oscuro que la medianoche. (It was darker than midnight.) La clase comienza a las 10 de la mañana y termina a mediodía. (The class begins at 10 a.m. and ends at noon.) El sábado tengo que levantarme a las cinco y media de la mañana. (On Saturday I have to get up at 5:30 a.m.) Eran las siete de la tarde y no había nadie. (It was 7 p.m. and there was nobody there.) How do you say 12am in Spanish?12:00 am/00:00: 12 de la medianoche. Also, you could easely say "12:00 am" in spanish, like "doce a (ah) m (ehme)".
What are three ways to say 12 o'clock in Spanish?How to tell the time on the hour. How do you say it's 12 pm?synonyms for 12 PM. lunchtime.. noontide.. high noon.. noontime.. twelve hundred.. twelve noon.. twelve o'clock.. Is mediodía a noon?Noon is translated in Spanish by...
Es mediodía. It's noon.
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