Telling time in Spanish: how to ask and say the hour

To ask the time, say ¿Qué hora es? (“What time is it?”). The answer almost always starts with the verb ser. Use Es la una for one o’clock only, and Son las + the hour for every other time: Son las dos, Son las tres, Son las doce.

After the hour, add the minutes. For minutes past, use y: Son las tres y diez (3:10). For minutes before the next hour, use menos: Son las cinco menos cuarto (4:45). Two handy words cover the quarters and the half: cuarto (quarter) and media (half).

Asking and the basic answer

Ask the time with one fixed phrase, then listen for es or son.

¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?

One o’clock is singular because it refers to a single hour (la una = la una hora), so it takes es and the singular article la.

Es la una.
It’s one o’clock.

Every other hour is plural (las dos, las once), so it takes son and las.

Son las diez.
It’s ten o’clock.

Minutes past: y

To add minutes after the hour, say the hour, then y, then the minutes.

Son las ocho y veinte.
It’s twenty past eight.

Use y cuarto for fifteen minutes past and y media for thirty.

Son las dos y cuarto.
It’s a quarter past two.

Son las cuatro y media.
It’s half past four.

Minutes to: menos

Past the halfway point, Spanish usually counts down to the next hour with menos (“minus”). Name the coming hour first, then menos and the minutes.

Son las cinco menos cuarto.
It’s a quarter to five. (4:45)

Son las ocho menos diez.
It’s ten to eight. (7:50)

You will also hear a digital style that just adds the minutes, like las cuatro y cuarenta y cinco for 4:45, but the y / menos system is the one to learn first.

Morning, afternoon, night and “at” a time

To make the hour specific, add a part of the day: de la mañana (in the morning, a.m.), de la tarde (in the afternoon and early evening), or de la noche (at night).

Son las ocho de la mañana.
It’s eight in the morning.

For an exact hour, add en punto (“on the dot”); for noon and midnight use el mediodía and la medianoche.

Son las dos en punto.
It’s two o’clock exactly.

When you schedule something at a time, switch from es/son to a las (or a la before una). This answers ¿A qué hora? (“At what time?”).

La clase es a las nueve.
The class is at nine.

Como a la una.
I eat at one.

Common mistakes

Using estar instead of ser for the clock

The time of day always uses ser, never estar.

Está la una. → Es la una.
It’s one o’clock.
The clock time describes identity, so it takes ser, not estar.

Using Son for one o’clock

One o’clock is the only singular hour, so it needs es la, not son las.

Son las una. → Es la una.
It’s one o’clock.
La una is a single hour, so the verb stays singular: es.

Using en instead of a for “at a time”

To say at a clock time, Spanish uses a las / a la, not en.

La clase es en las nueve. → La clase es a las nueve.
The class is at nine.
En marks a place or a month; the preposition for a clock time is a.

Telling time really clicks once you say it inside real plans, and that is also where the ser habit pays off — ser vs estar shows why the clock always takes ser. In Fluera you build short schedule sentences like La clase es a las nueve, so choosing es or son and adding y cuarto or menos diez happens in context. Try it when you practice Spanish and the hours start to feel automatic.

Practice