Asking and Saying What Time It Is

The key question is ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?). The answer uses the verb ser (to be), but the form changes depending on whether the hour is one o’clock or any other hour:

• Use Es la una for 1:00 (singular — there is only one una).
• Use Son las dos / tres / cuatro… for all other hours (plural).

Adding Minutes: y and menos

To express minutes after the hour, add y (and) followed by the number of minutes. To express minutes before the next hour, use menos (minus/less). A few special words replace common fractions:

• y cuarto — quarter past (:15)
• y media — half past (:30)
• menos cuarto — quarter to the next hour (:45)

For exact, on-the-dot times, add en punto (on the dot) at the end: Son las nueve en punto — It is exactly 9:00.

Parts of the Day: de la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche

Spanish does not use AM or PM. Instead, you specify the part of the day after the time. These phrases are roughly equivalent to “in the morning,” “in the afternoon/evening,” and “at night.”

Note on tarde vs. noche: The boundary between tarde and noche is flexible and context-dependent. As a general guide, tarde covers the afternoon and early evening hours, while noche typically begins in the late evening. This division is not as sharply defined as AM/PM.

Days of the Week

An important difference from English: days of the week are not capitalized in Spanish unless they begin a sentence. Also note that in many Spanish-speaking countries, printed calendars commonly start the week on Monday rather than Sunday.

To say something happens on a particular day, Spanish uses the definite article instead of a preposition: El lunes tengo clase — I have class on Monday. To say something happens every week on that day, use the plural: los lunes (every Monday), los viernes (every Friday).

Months of the Year

Like days of the week, months are not capitalized in Spanish unless they begin a sentence.

Saying the Date

The standard Spanish date format follows this pattern:

el + [day number] + de + [month]

For example: el 5 de mayo — the 5th of May. The day number is a regular cardinal number (5, 12, 20), not an ordinal (fifth, twelfth), with one important exception: the first of the month uses primero, not uno.

When writing the date numerically in Spanish, the order is typically day / month / year: 05/05/2025 means May 5, not the 5th month of the 5th day. This is the reverse of the common US format.

Useful Time Words

These everyday words for talking about when things happen will come up constantly in conversation. Notice that mañana serves double duty: it means both “tomorrow” and “morning” depending on context.

Mini-Dialogues in Context

Seeing time and date expressions in real conversation helps them stick. Here are two short exchanges:

Dialogue 1 — Asking for the time

Dialogue 2 — Confirming a date

Tips for Mastering Spanish Time and Dates

Practice Prompts

Try answering these questions aloud or in writing. Sample answers follow each prompt.

1. ¿Qué hora es ahora? (What time is it right now?) — Look at a clock and answer using the patterns above.
2. ¿Qué día es hoy? (What day is it today?) — Answer with: Hoy es lunes / martes / miércoles…
3. ¿Qué fecha es hoy? (What is today’s date?) — Answer with: Hoy es el [number] de [month].
4. How would you say “It is 7:45 at night”? (Hint: use son las ocho menos cuarto de la noche.)
5. How would you say “See you the day after tomorrow”? (Hint: Hasta pasado mañana.)

For the number vocabulary you need to say any time or date, visit our Numbers & Colors reference page.