Telling time in Spanish: rules and practice
La hora homework tonight? One rules table, 16 clock times with an answer key you can check without speaking Spanish, and the Latin American forms.
By Mathias C.
Learn with a private tutor, 50% offon Preply, with our link →To practice telling time in Spanish, a child needs two patterns (es la una for one o'clock, son las for every other hour) and two small words, y and menos, for the minutes. If your kid came home with a worksheet on la hora, the rules table and the 16 clock times below take about ten minutes at the kitchen table, and the answer key lets you check them even if you never studied Spanish.
Why is it es la una but son las dos in Spanish?
The verb follows the number of hours. One o'clock is singular, so Spanish says es la una, and every other hour is plural: son las dos, son las diez. The RAE's Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (checked October 2026) applies the same rule to minutes: es la una y diez, but son las dos menos cuarto.
The article never drops. Spanish says la una and las tres because the hidden word is hora, which is feminine. So son las una is wrong, and so is son los tres. The question that goes with it is ¿Qué hora es?, singular, whatever the answer turns out to be. If your child mixes up qué and cuál in other questions, our Spanish question words practice has 18 sentences on them.
How do you say minutes, half past and quarter to in Spanish?
Spanish counts minutes forward with y until half past, then names the next hour and counts back with menos. The RAE lists four fixed pieces: en punto (on the dot), y cuarto (quarter past), y media (half past) and menos cuarto (quarter to). Everything else is a number of minutes.
| Clock | General Spanish | Other correct form | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:00 | Son las dos (en punto) | Same | Plural for every hour except one |
| 1:10 | Es la una y diez | Same | Singular for one and its minutes |
| 2:15 | Son las dos y cuarto | Son las dos y quince | Up to :30, add with y |
| 2:30 | Son las dos y media | Son las dos y treinta | Media is "half" |
| 2:40 | Son las tres menos veinte | Son veinte para las tres (much of Latin America) | After :30, next hour minus the minutes |
| 2:45 | Son las tres menos cuarto | Es un cuarto para las tres (Latin America) | Cuarto is "quarter" |
| 12:50 | Es la una menos diez | Son diez para la una | The next hour is one, so singular |
Verdict: the menos column trips up English speakers, because English says "two forty" and Spanish says "three minus twenty". Learn menos first, then the para version if your family or your kid's teacher uses Latin American Spanish. The RAE accepts both, and rejects un cuarto a las tres: with this form, the word is para.
How do you add morning, afternoon and night to the time in Spanish?
Spanish adds a part of the day after the time, the way English adds a.m. or p.m.: son las ocho de la mañana. The RAE's dictionary of doubts gives four of them, and the boundaries are not the same as in English.
- de la mañana: from sunrise until noon
- de la tarde: from noon until the sun sets
- de la noche: from nightfall until midnight
- de la madrugada: from midnight until dawn
So 7 p.m. can be de la tarde in summer and de la noche in winter: it follows the light, not the clock. Two cases need care. Noon is las doce del mediodía (or simply mediodía, which the RAE dictionary defines as the time around twelve), and the RAE marks doce de la tarde as wrong. 3 a.m. is las tres de la madrugada, which kids often write as de la noche.
Written schedules in Spanish-speaking countries often use the 24-hour clock: a school timetable or a bus ticket says 14:30 or 14.30. The RAE accepts the colon and the period, never a comma. People still read 14:30 aloud as las dos y media de la tarde in everyday speech.
Practice telling time in Spanish: 16 clock times
Write each time as a full sentence, starting with es or son. Times 1 to 6 are warm-ups, 7 to 12 use menos, and 13 to 16 add a part of the day. Cover the key below before you start.
Warm-up
- 1:00
- 3:00
- 7:30
- 9:15
- 1:30
- 12:00 (noon)
With menos
- 4:45
- 2:50
- 12:40
- 6:25
- 10:35
- 12:55
Part of the day
- 8:00 a.m.
- 3:20 p.m.
- 10:00 p.m.
- 2:00 a.m.
Telling time in Spanish answer key: what's right, and why?
Count one point per sentence, and only if the verb and the article match the hour. Fourteen or more means the rules are in place. Under ten, go back to the first table and redo times 7 to 12 tomorrow, out loud.
| # | Answer | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Es la una. | One o'clock is singular |
| 2 | Son las tres. | Plural for all other hours |
| 3 | Son las siete y media. | Half past: y media |
| 4 | Son las nueve y cuarto. | Quarter past: y cuarto |
| 5 | Es la una y media. | Still one, still singular |
| 6 | Son las doce del mediodía. | Never doce de la tarde |
| 7 | Son las cinco menos cuarto. | Next hour minus a quarter |
| 8 | Son las tres menos diez. | Next hour minus ten |
| 9 | Es la una menos veinte. | The next hour is one: singular |
| 10 | Son las seis y veinticinco. | Before :30, keep adding with y |
| 11 | Son las once menos veinticinco. | After :30, count back |
| 12 | Es la una menos cinco. | Singular again |
| 13 | Son las ocho de la mañana. | Morning until noon |
| 14 | Son las tres y veinte de la tarde. | Afternoon from noon |
| 15 | Son las diez de la noche. | Night until midnight |
| 16 | Son las dos de la madrugada. | After midnight: madrugada |
Verdict: numbers 9 and 12 are the real test. A child who writes son las una menos veinte has learned "plural after 12" instead of "singular for one". Latin American answers also count: son diez para las tres for number 8 is correct.
How can you practice telling time in Spanish at home with your kid?
The fastest home practice for telling time in Spanish is a two-minute question asked at fixed moments of the day. At breakfast and at bedtime, ask ¿Qué hora es? and let your kid read the kitchen clock aloud. Two short daily moments beat one long worksheet session, and you only need the answer key above to check.
Turn it into a game once the basics are in. You set a toy clock or a phone to a random time, your kid says it, then you swap roles and your kid catches your mistakes. For more ways to keep the routine light, see our tips to keep kids excited about Spanish and the Spanish guides on our language page.
Don't book a tutor for la hora alone: one evening with this page covers it. A tutor makes sense when Spanish homework keeps piling up and nobody at home can answer back in Spanish. In that case, short lessons work best for young kids; our guide on how many lessons a week a child needs gives lengths by age, and the page for parents collects the rest. To compare prices and test a tutor before committing, read how to find a good online Spanish tutor.
Questions parents ask about telling time in Spanish
How do you say 1:30 in Spanish?
1:30 is es la una y media. Because the hour is one, the verb and the article stay singular: es la una, not son las una. The same goes for every minute between 1:00 and 1:59 when you count from one, such as es la una y diez or es la una y cuarto.
Is it ¿qué hora es? or ¿qué horas son?
¿Qué hora es? is the standard question everywhere. The RAE's Diccionario panhispánico de dudas accepts ¿qué horas son? but calls it less recommended; it is heard in parts of Latin America, especially in casual speech. Teach your child the singular form for school.
How do you say noon and midnight in Spanish?
Noon is las doce del mediodía, or simply mediodía. Midnight is las doce de la noche, or medianoche. The RAE says doce de la tarde is incorrect for noon, because de la tarde starts after midday. In written schedules, the RAE recommends 12 m. for noon and 12 a. m. for midnight.
Do Spanish speakers use the 24-hour clock?
Yes, mostly in writing: train times, school schedules, TV listings and invitations often show 19:30 or 19.30. In conversation, people usually switch back to the 12-hour clock and add de la tarde or de la noche. The RAE accepts a colon or a period between hours and minutes, never a comma.
How do you say 'at 3 o'clock' in Spanish?
Use a plus the article: a las tres. For one o'clock it becomes a la una, singular again, so la clase empieza a la una y media, not a las una y media. To ask, say ¿A qué hora empieza? (What time does it start?).
