Listen to Native Sound Recordings to Understand Telling Time in Spanish
Knowing how to tell time and talk about the time is essential to speaking Spanish. Telling time in Spanish is not difficult and can be learned quickly by clicking on the audio examples below.
What Time is it? Telling time and talking about the time is one of the first things you'll want to learn as you study Spanish. It's a great way to strike up a conversation with someone you don't know. Knowing the time is an important part of going through the day so if you can learn to do it in Spanish so much the better.
The phrases and sentences below will give you the tools you need to converse in Spanish about what time you wake up from bed in the morning, what time you go to bed at night, and even what time an important event like a party will be starting. Read on and you'll also be prepared to use a schedule for public transportation, or even set up an important meeting.
Knowing how to talk about the time of day will give you great confidence early on in your study of the Spanish language. So if you're ready to begin, let's start with some online audio of the most common time-related Spanish phrases.
The way to ask 'What time is it?' in Spanish is to say ¿Que hora es?
Sometimes you will also hear people use the plural form and say ¿Que horas son?
This speaker picture next to an underlined word is your signal to click and be able to listen to a life-long native Spanish speaking person teach you exactly how to pronounce the time-related phrases you need to know.
Useful Phrases Related to Time
Here are several phrases related to time and telling time that will be useful to you.
son las tres (de la tarde)
it's three o'clock PM
es la una.
it's one o'clock
son las nueve de la mañana.
it's nine o'clock AM
son las ocho y media
it's 8:30
son las nueve quince
it's 9:15
Me levanto a las siete de la mañana.
I get up at 7 am.
La fiesta empieza a las tres de la tarde.
The party begins at 3 pm.
If you want to say that it's exactly 4 o'clock then use this phrase:
"en punto"
for example:
El tren llego a las cuatro en punto.
The train arrived at 4 o'clock sharp.
If you want to say it's 10 minutes to 5, use this phrase.

Or, you could also say it this way,
son las cuatro con cincuenta minutos.
To say AM or PM, use these phrases:
esta noche a las siete.
tonight at seven.
mañana a las diez de la mañana.
tomorrow at 10 AM
Tengo que ir a la tienda a las dos de la tarde.
I have to go to the store at two PM.
Time on the Radio
A great way to practice understanding time is to listen to the radio -- especially during the morning rush hours when the announcers repeat the time frequently. When starting out leaning Spanish, the time of day on the radio is often one of the first phrases to be recognized.