Telling time and dates

Telling time and dates in Spanish

This guide explains how to say the time and give dates in Spanish. It shows what forms are common in speech and writing, how to avoid confusion between 12-hour and 24-hour uses, how to form dates (day + month + year), and the typical words you need (cuarto, media, mediodía, medianoche, etc.). Examples are given in Spanish with English translations.

Telling the time

What is the basic structure for saying the hour?

The basic rule is:
- For 1:00 use Es la una. (singular)
- For all other hours use Son las + hour. (plural)

Examples:
Es la una. — It's one o'clock.
Son las dos. — It's two o'clock.
Son las doce. — It's twelve o'clock.

Tip: Always say Es la una (not Son la una). For other hours use Son las.

How do I say minutes: 'y' (past) and 'menos' (to)?

- For minutes from :01 to :30, use hour + y + minutes. E.g., 3:10 = Son las tres y diez.
- Use special words for :15 (y cuarto) and :30 (y media).
- For minutes after :30 it's very common to count down to the next hour using menos: 3:45 = Son las cuatro menos cuarto (literally: "it's four minus a quarter").

Examples (time in Spanish → English):
Son las tres y cinco. — 3:05 (It's three oh five).
Son las cuatro y cuarto. — 4:15 (It's quarter past four).
Son las ocho y media. — 8:30 (It's half past eight).
Son las diez menos veinte. — 9:40 (It's twenty to ten).
Son las seis menos cinco. — 5:55 (It's five to six).

Notes:
- You can optionally add minutos: Son las dos y cinco minutos, but it's not necessary in normal speech.
- Some speakers (informally) say numeric sequences like "las tres cuarenta y cinco" for 3:45, but the typical spoken pattern is "las cuatro menos cuarto."

How do I say exact times and how do I say "at" a time?

- Use en punto to say "on the dot": Son las tres en punto. — It's three o'clock sharp.
- To say "at" use a la (for 1) or a las (for other hours):
- La película empieza a la una. — The movie starts at one.
- La reunión es a las nueve. — The meeting is at nine.

How do I indicate morning/afternoon/night (AM/PM)? What about the 24-hour clock?

Spanish normally uses phrases to clarify the part of the day instead of AM/PM letters:
- de la mañana — in the morning (used roughly from sunrise until noon)
- del mediodía / al mediodía — midday / at noon
- de la tarde — in the afternoon (noon until early evening)
- de la noche — in the evening/night
- de la madrugada — very early morning after midnight (1:00–5:00 a.m.)

Examples:
Son las nueve de la mañana. — 9:00 AM.
Son las dos y media de la tarde. — 2:30 PM.
Son las once de la noche. — 11:00 PM.
Es mediodía. — It's noon.
Es medianoche. — It's midnight.

24-hour clock: In timetables and formal writing (trains, hospitals, official schedules) the 24-hour format is common: 14:30, 07:15, 00:00. Spoken reading of a 24-hour time can be "las catorce treinta" (14:30) or more naturally "las dos y media de la tarde." Example:
La clase es a las 15:00 (a las tres de la tarde). — The class is at 15:00 (3:00 PM).

Tip on boundaries: The division between tarde and noche is flexible: Spain and Latin America vary. If in doubt, add "de la tarde" or "de la noche." Use mediodía or medianoche for 12:00.

How do I ask for the time?

Common questions:
¿Qué hora es? — What time is it?
¿Tienes hora? / ¿Tiene hora? — Do you have the time? (informal/formal)
¿A qué hora...? — At what time...?

Answers:
Son las cinco. — It's five o'clock.
Es la una y cuarto. — It's one-fifteen.
La reunión es a las cuatro y media. — The meeting is at 4:30.

Common mistakes with time (and how to avoid them)

- Using Son la una — wrong. Use Es la una.
- Forgetting a la / a las when saying "at": "La clase es la una" — wrong. Say "La clase es a la una."
- Mixing up de la tarde / de la noche; if unclear, add mediodía/medianoche or use the 24-hour time.
- Saying "y media" and thinking it means "average" — in time, media = half past.

What is the basic order (day/month/year)?

Spanish standard order is day + de + month (+ de + year). Months are not capitalized.

Examples:
- 5 May 1810 → el 5 de mayo de 1810 (or: el cinco de mayo de mil ochocientos diez).
- 22 October 2025 → el 22 de octubre de 2025 (Hoy es martes, 22 de octubre de 2025).

Numeric forms: the common numeric format in Spanish-speaking countries is DD/MM/YYYY, e.g., 22/10/2025. Be careful: in the U.S. the format often looks like MM/DD/YYYY — that is different.

How do I say "the first of the month"? When do I use "el"?

- For the first day say el primero de [mes]: Mi cumpleaños es el primero de mayo. — My birthday is the first of May.
- You can also hear el uno de mayo, but "primero" is the traditional spoken form for the first.
- Use the definite article el before a spoken date: El 5 de mayo es una fiesta. You may drop "el" in more telegraphic contexts, but "el" is common.

Important grammar note: "primer" is used before masculine nouns (el primer día), but for a date without the noun you say "el primero de mayo," not "el primer de mayo."

Months and weekdays (lowercase) — how to use them

Months: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre.

Weekdays: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo.

Examples:
El lunes 5 de abril — Monday, April 5th.
El 1 de enero — the 1st of January.

Every/regular events:
- Use los + weekday for habitual events: Los lunes estudio español. — I study Spanish on Mondays (every Monday).
- Use el + weekday to refer to a particular upcoming or past day: El lunes voy al médico. — On Monday (this coming Monday or the Monday we are referring to) I go to the doctor.

How do I say years (reading years aloud)?

Common patterns:
- 1984 → mil novecientos ochenta y cuatro.
- 2000 → dos mil.
- 2003 → dos mil tres.
- 2015 → dos mil quince.
- 2021 → dos mil veintiuno (or, informally in some places, "veinte veintiuno" but less standard).

Examples:
Nací en 1994. — I was born in 1994. (say: Nací en mil novecientos noventa y cuatro.)
La película es de 2001. — The film is from 2001. (de dos mil uno)

Tip: For years in the 1900s, Spanish speakers normally say "mil novecientos..." rather than splitting into two two-digit numbers as English does ("nineteen eighty-four"). For years after 2000, say "dos mil ..." or the full number.

How to write dates (formats) and avoid confusion

- Full written date: el 22 de octubre de 2025.
- Numeric: 22/10/2025 (DD/MM/YYYY) — this is the usual format in Spanish-speaking countries.
- For international clarity use ISO: 2025-10-22.

Avoid writing 10/11/2025 without context: an English-speaker might read that as October 11, but a Spanish-speaker reads it as 10 November.

Vocabulary for relative dates: hoy, mañana, pasado mañana, ayer, anteayer

Examples:
Hoy es miércoles. — Today is Wednesday.
Mañana es jueves. — Tomorrow is Thursday.
Pasado mañana es sábado. — The day after tomorrow is Saturday.
Ayer fue martes. — Yesterday was Tuesday.
Anteayer fue lunes. — The day before yesterday was Monday.

Other useful phrases:
la semana que viene / la semana próxima — next week
la semana pasada — last week
el próximo lunes / el lunes que viene — next Monday ("el próximo lunes" can be ambiguous in some regions; "el lunes que viene" is clearer)

Common mistakes with dates (and how to avoid them)

- Writing dates as MM/DD/YYYY (English style) — remember Spanish uses DD/MM/YYYY.
- Capitalizing months: spanish months are lowercase (enero, febrero...).
- Using ordinal numbers for all dates: say "el 5 de mayo" not "el quinto de mayo" in normal speech. Use "primero" for the first day.
- Forgetting the preposition de before the month and year: the correct form is "el 5 de mayo de 2010."

Here are common, natural ways to combine date and time:

La reunión es el lunes 27 de octubre a las 15:00. — The meeting is on Monday, October 27 at 15:00.
La reunión es el lunes 27 de octubre a las tres de la tarde. — (same, spoken form)

Mi cumpleaños es el 2 de julio; la fiesta empieza a las ocho de la noche. — My birthday is July 2nd; the party starts at 8:00 PM.

El vuelo sale el 1 de junio a las 06:15. — The flight leaves on June 1 at 6:15 AM.

La película empieza a las 9 (de la noche). — The movie starts at 9 (PM).

La clase es todos los miércoles a las 10 de la mañana. — The class is every Wednesday at 10:00 AM.

La exposición estará abierta desde el 3 de marzo hasta el 10 de abril. — The exhibition will be open from March 3 until April 10.

Formal written example (common in invitations or schedules):
- Lugar: Teatro Principal
- Fecha: 22 de octubre de 2025
- Hora: 20:30
Se recomienda llegar 15 minutos antes. — Place: Main Theater; Date: 22 Oct 2025; Time: 20:30. Please arrive 15 minutes early.

Common mistakes — short checklist and quick tips

- Use Es la una for 1:00; Son las for other hours.
- Use a la (singular) for 1 and a las (plural) for other hours when saying "at": La cita es a la una / a las tres.
- Clarify AM/PM with de la mañana / de la tarde / de la noche or use 24-hour times in formal contexts.
- Dates: day + de + month; months lowercase; use el before a spoken date; write DD/MM/YYYY.
- For times after half past, prefer "menos" constructions (son las cuatro menos cuarto) in spoken Spanish.

Glossary — useful words and short meanings

es la / son las — "it is" for telling time; es la una / son las dos
en punto — exactly; on the dot (tres en punto)
y cuarto — quarter past (:15)
y media — half past (:30)
menos cuarto — quarter to (:45)
mediodía — noon (12:00)
medianoche — midnight (00:00)
de la mañana / de la tarde / de la noche — morning / afternoon / night (used to disambiguate AM/PM)
de la madrugada — early morning (after midnight until sunrise)
a la / a las — at (a la una / a las tres)
el / los — article used with dates and weekdays (el 5 de mayo / los lunes)
primero — first (el primero de mayo — the first of May)

If you want, I can give a short printable cheat-sheet with the most common spoken patterns and 30+ example times converted from numeric (24-hour) to spoken forms.