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Telling time in Spanish is not difficult if you can remember a few simple rules. First, let’s look at a clock with time translations in Spanish:

So, what time does it say…in Spanish?

Son las cuatro menos diez. — It's ten to four.

Literally, “It is four minus ten.” Here’s why Spanish speakers convey time the way they do, including all the rules you need to remember:

1. First say the hour, then the minutes.

2. The hour number is always plural, except when denoting “one”.

12 = Son las doce...
1 = Es la una...
2 = Son las dos...
3 = Son las tres...
4 = Son las cuatro...
5 = Son las cinco...
6 = Son las seis...
7 = Son las siete...
8 = Son las ocho...
9 = Son las nueve...
10 = Son las diez...
11 = Son las once...

3. If it’s before the hour, except “quarter till”, you say menos followed by the number of minutes.

4. If it’s after the hour, except “quarter past”, you say y followed by the number of minutes.

Son las nueve y veinte. — It's nine-twenty. Or, It's twenty past nine.

5. Always say “the” (definite article) before the hour.

La una, las dos, las tres, etc.

6. If it’s exactly the hour, say en punto.

Son las doce en punto — It's twelve o'clock.

7. If it’s “half past” the hour say y media.

Son las cinco y media — It's five-thirty. Or, It's half past five.

8. If it’s “quarter past”, say …y cuarto. If it’s “quarter to”, say …menos cuarto.

Son las tres y cuarto. — It's three-fifteen. Or, It's quarter after three.
Es la una menos cuarto. — It's quarter till one.

Remember, you might say in English, “It’s twelve forty-five”, but Spanish speakers do not.

Hope you’ve had “una hora agradable.”

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Related lesson: How to Say “What Time Is It?” in Spanish.

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la pena — mental or spiritual anguish, misfortune (something to be sorry about that's not physical pain)

Me da pena. — It gives me pain (It causes me distress.)
¡Ay, qué pena! — What a drag! (What a misfortune!)

Be careful, because pena is a “false friend” corresponding to “pain”—it does not mean physical pain.

el dolor — pain, usually physical
dolor — to hurt, to ache, to feel pain

Tengo dolor de cabeza. — I have a headache.
Doctor, me duele la cabeza. — Doctor, my head aches.
Le duele la espalda. — His back hurts.

Whether or not you caused the pain, you will want to express your sympathy.

compadecer — to sympathize (literally, to suffer with)
Lo compadezco — I sympathize

sentir — to feel, to sense
Lo siento — I'm sorry

Lo siento is also appropriate for a social gaffe, but when you are responsible you will want to use a form of…

disculparse — to be forgiven

…where you are literally asking not to be held culpable.

Suppose you step on someone’s toe, you momentarily forget a name, you forget an appointment—there are so many small social misfortunes. You say:

¡Discúlpeme, por favor! — Forgive me, please!

or simply,

¡Disculpe! — Forgive! (me, is implied)

(Background for grammar buffs: the verb is disculpar “to forgive” but the form is the present subjunctive, conveying “May you forgive…” or “I hope you forgive…”)

If you have to interrupt someone at a task, in order to get their attention, you should apologize by saying:

Disculpe la molestia… — Forgive the bother…

And no, you are not asking advance forgiveness for some illegal act; molestar is another “false friend” meaning “bother”, not molest.

Finally, let’s deal with situations where you need to apologize in advance for what you are about to do, such as step in front of someone to reach your seat in a theater, or a bus or plane. Or you may need to excuse yourself from a group such as at a dinner table or a conversational gathering. In these cases you are actually asking permission, so remember to say:

con su permiso por favor — with your permission please

or simply,

con permiso — permit (me)

And if you should have the bad luck to trip and fall into someone’s lap as you clamber to your seat, by all means say:

¡perdóneme! — Pardon me! (please)

or simply,

¡perdón! — pardon! (me)

Just don’t say permiso in the above case. ¡Ay, qué pena! (How embarrassing!)

Here is a list of words and expressions on how to say you’re sorry in Spanish—with related phrases:

compadecer — to sympathize with
lo compadezco — I sympathize
disculpar — to forgive, to exculpate
disculparse — to be forgiven, to be sorry
discúlpeme — forgive me
el dolor — pain, hurt
dolor de cabeza — headache
doler — to hurt, to ache, to feel pain
me duele la cabeza — my head hurts, aches
la molestia — bother, annoyance
molestar — to bother, to annoy
la pena — mental pain, anguish, distress
me da pena — it causes me distress
sentir — to feel, to sense
lo siento — I'm sorry (for something)

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When beginning to learn Spanish, there will surely come a time when you want to know how to ask for directions to some destination. Let’s try a few schematic scenarios.

First, you may need to get someone’s attention:

Disculpe, señor (señorita) — pardon me, sir (miss).

Next, state your destination and your wish to get there:

Necesito ir al Hotel Miraflores. ¿Adonde queda? — I need to go to the Hotel Miraflores. Where is it located?

Of course there are many other ways to ask directions, but this is easy for an English speaking person and it will be taken as a request for directions.

Your addressee may say something like:

Lo siento, no sé. — Sorry, I don't know.

But probably you will get a helpful response. Here are some possibilities:

Siga derecho no mas. — Keep going straight ahead.

This one may be trickier to interpret than it seems. Especially in rural areas there is a tendency for the person giving directions to reorient the body in a certain direction and then gesture to indicate that you should proceed straight ahead in that direction, even though it may require a ninety degree turn for you.

En la esquina doble a la derecha y camine dos cuadras. — At the corner, turn right and walk two blocks.

Be careful not to confuse derecho ’straight’ and a la derecha ‘right’ (on the right, to the right).

Tome la calle a la izquierda hasta llegar a la avenida Martínez. — Take the street on the left until you reach Martínez avenue.

Está al otro lado de la plaza central. — It's on the other side of the central plaza.

Tiene que dar vuelta y regresar por esta calle medio kilómetro porque ya se pasó. — You have to turn around and go back on this street half a kilometer, because you passed it.

Here’s a glossary of useful, directions related, Spanish vocabulary words and expressions:

camino — road, way
una calle — street
avenida — avenue
un callejón — alley, lane
vereda — path, way
sendero — path
acera — sidewalk
huellas — track, footprints, tire tracks
adonde, por dónde — where, by which way
doblar — turn, as in, right or left (doblar is also 'fold' when you are dealing with clothing, paper, etc)
dar vuelta — turn around, reverse direction
seguir, siga (polite directive) — go, follow
regresar — return, go back
lejos — far away
cerca — near
a pocos pasos — a few steps away
al lado — next to, next door
al otro lado — on the other side
frente a — facing
detrás de — behind, in back of
una subida — ascent
una bajada — descent
parqueo — parking
estacionamiento — parking
alojamiento — lodging
aldea — village
pueblo — town
una ciudad — city
parador — stop, resting place
descanso — rest, resting place
fuente — fountain, drinking fountain
agua — potable drinking water

Remember that things are located with the estar verb, not ser. There are other ways of expressing being in a place or location:

queda en — stays, remains, is located at or on
se ubica en — is situated at
se encuentra en — is found at

El Hotel Miraflores se encuentra en la avenida de la plaza central. — Hotel Miraflores can be found on the avenue of the central plaza.

El Hotel Miraflores se ubica frente a la plaza central. — Hotel Miraflores is located on the central plaza.

Now that you know how to ask for directions in Spanish…

Hasta la vista. ¡Qué le vaya bien! — ‘Until again (see you later). Go safely!’

Never mind the stereotype about countries with Spanish speakers being “mañana” land! Urban people all over the globe need to keep track of the time, and Spanish speakers are no exception. People need to keep appointments, watch games, meet people, have office-hours and store-hours and say how long an event is scheduled or expected to last. Now we are going to sort out some ways of conversing about tiempo ‘time’ in Spanish.

The basic question you might need to ask, if you don’t have access to your watch or cell phone is:

¿Qué hora es? — What time is it?

It’s not a a bad conversation opener, either, in which case you would want to be more polite and considerate:

¿Qué hora es, por favor? — What time is it, please?
¿Tiene usted la hora? — Do you have the time?
Hágame el favor de decirme qué hora es. — Do me the favor of telling me what time it is.

As in English, the “be” verb is used in time expressions. Remember, there are two “be” verbs in Spanish—ser and estar. Even though we all know time is fleeting, the verb used in Spanish time expressions is ser, not estar. If it is one o’clock, or one plus any number of minutes up to two o’clock, the verb is singular es. For all other times the verb is plural son.

Es la una. — It's one o'clock.
Es la una y veinte. — It's 1:20.

(Notice the feminine article la, which agrees with the understood hora.)

Son las dos. — It's two o'clock.
Son las dos en punto. — It's exactly two o'clock.
Son las dos y media. — It's half past two.
Son las dos y cuarto. — It's two-fifteen.
Son las dos menos cuarto. — It's a quarter to two.
Son las dos y cuarenta. — It's 2:40.
Son las tres menos veinte. — It's twenty of three.

If it is necessary to specify A.M. or P.M.:

Son las cuatro de la tarde. — It's four in the afternoon.
Son las cuatro de la mañana. — It's four in the morning.
Son las diez de la noche. — It's ten at night.

[review the numbers in article How To Learn Spanish: Numbers 1-100]

But note that official times in Spanish-speaking countries are normally given on a twenty-four hour basis:

a las trece horas — at thirteen zero zero (or, incorrectly: thirteen hundred hours) (one o'clock)
a las trece horas con diez minutos — at thirteen ten (1:10)
La película empieza a las veinte horas. — The movie begins at eight o'clock.

If your bus leaves for Michoacán…

a las ocho horas

…you can be sure that it will be at 8 o’clock in the morning.

Some benchmark but non-numerical time expressions are:

a mediodía — at noon
a medianoche — at midnight
al amanecer — at dawn
al anochecer — at sunset

Notice the first two do not require an article, but the last two have the masculine article el contracted with the preposition a ‘at’. a + el becomes al.

Let’s see how some of these expressions work. Raúl and Elena are discussing their plans for the day.

Elena:
Voy de compras con mamá a mediodía. — I'm going shopping with mother at noon.

Raúl:
Bueno, ya son las doce y media. Ya estás en atraso. — Well, it's already twelve-thirty. You are already late.

Elena:
¡Ay! — Oh-oh!

Raúl:
Ay, no. Me equivoqué. Mi reloj está adelantado. — No, I was mistaken. My watch is fast (advanced).

El reloj de la cocina da las doce y cuarto. — The clock in the kitchen says (gives) twelve-fifteen.

Elena:
En todo caso, es hora de irme. ¡Chao! — Anyway, it is time for me to leave. Chow!

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The next discussion of time will continue, with parts of the day, durations of time and other time expressions–all enhorabuena ‘well and good’.

Anyone who plans to speak Spanish will need to refer to the day and date of some event. You may want to see if a memo or a newspaper edition is current. You may want to issue an invitation or specify the day and date of a meeting. Possibly you may even wake up some morning and say to no one in particular…

¿Hoy qué día es? — (Today) What day is it?

Hoy es lunes. — Today is Monday.
Hoy es martes. — Today is Tuesday
Hoy es miércoles. — Today is Wednesday
Hoy es jueves. — Today is Thursday
Hoy es viernes. — Today is Friday
Hoy es sábado. — Today is Saturday
Hoy es domingo. — Today is Sunday

Notice that in Spanish the days are not written with a capital letter as they are in English. This is also true for the months.

Both days and months take the masculine article el or un when an article is required. But you could say:

Estamos en enero. — We're in January (this is January).
Estamos en febrero. — This is February.

…and so on. These are non-specific utterances, treating months as though they were like seasons, or temporadas:

Estamos en verano. — We're in summer (this is summertime).
Estamos en invierno. — This is winter.
Estamos en primavera. — This is springtime.
Estamos en otoño. — This is fall.

If you mean to be specific about the date, you would ask:

¿En cuál fecha estamos? — On what date are we?

or…

¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? — What is the date today?

The response requires additional grammatical particles.

Estamos a dos de abril. — We're on the second of April.

Unlike in English, all the days of the month except the first use cardinal or counting numbers. Only the first of the month is said in Spanish with the ordinal form.

el primero de abril — the first of April (April 1st)
el dos de abril — the second of April (April 2nd)
el tres de abril — the third of April (April 3rd)
.
.
.
el treinta de abril — April thirtieth (30th)

This is true for all the months.

Suppose the question is about a recurring event:

¿Cuándo vas a la lección de piano? — When do you go to your piano lesson?
Voy los lunes a las tres. — I go Mondays at three.

A one-time event:

Tengo una cita médica el cuatro de octubre. — I have a medical appointment on the 4th of October.
Tengo una cita médica el cuatro. — I have a medical appointment on the fourth.

Note—in the Spanish sentence above—that where English time expression may use the preposition “on”, no preposition is used in Spanish.

If you want to specify the year, use de:

Gabriel García Márquez nació en Colombia el seis de marzo de 1928. — Gabriel García Márquez was born in Colombia on March 6, 1928.

When you say a year in Spanish, you read out all the place values, so 1928 is:

mil novecientos veintiocho — one thousand nine hundred twenty-eight (we'd say: nineteen twenty-eight).

In other words, in Spanish—years—there is no grouping of digits into tens, as in English.

Finally, for today:

El siglo XXI (veintiuno) es el siglo actual. — The twenty-first century is the present century.

La inauguración de la administración actual tomó lugar el veinte de enero de dos mil nueve. — The inauguration of the present administration took place on January 20, 2009.

Next time we’ll talk about other aspects of time: seasons, the time of day, parts of the day…

Aprovéchense del tiempo. — Don’t waste time!

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