¡Hola! Ready to learn a super useful skill? Today, we will learn how to tell time in Spanish!
To ask "What time is it?" in Spanish, we say: ¿Qué hora es? (keh OH-rah ess). To answer, we use two different starting words depending on the hour.
For one o'clock, we say Es la una (ess lah OO-nah) because "una" is singular. For all other hours, we say Son las (sohn lahs) because they are plural. Let us look at how the clock hands move!
To add minutes, we just say the hour, then the word y (ee), which means "and", followed by the minutes. For example, Son las dos y diez (sohn lahs dohs ee dee-eth) means "It is 2:10".
✏️ Worked example
How do you say "It is 4:20" in Spanish? Let us break it down step-by-step.
Step 1: Look at the hour. The hour is 4 (four). In Spanish, the number four is cuatro (KWAH-troh).
Step 2: Decide between 'Es la' or 'Son las'. Since 4 is more than 1, we must use the plural form: Son las (sohn lahs).
Step 3: Combine them to start our sentence: Son las cuatro (It is four o'clock).
Step 4: Now look at the minutes. The minutes are 20 (twenty). In Spanish, twenty is veinte (BAYN-teh).
Step 5: Connect the hour and minutes using the word y (and). This gives us: Son las cuatro y veinte (It is 4:20).
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