Time in Spanish. Spanish Time of Day

¿Qué hora es?
What time is it now?

Hola, ¿qué hora es? - Hello, what time is it?
Son las nueve - Nine hours

In this section, we will touch upon such a useful topic in everyday life as the definition of the time in Spanish. To learn how to navigate a Spanish watch, the knowledge of numerals obtained in lesson 7... By itself, this topic is easy, and you can master it quickly enough.

First, let's ask the question "What time is it?" in Spanish:

¿Qué hora es? - What time is it now?

A rough answer to this question might be:

Son las ocho - Eight hours

The verb ser is always present in both the question and the answer. Only in the answer, if we are talking about all hours except one, we must put the verb ser in the plural form of son. Compare:

It is also imperative to use the feminine definite article. In the case of one hour, use the article la, with all other hours - las. This is because the word hora (hour) or horas is meant here. Therefore, complete answers will look like this:

Sometimes they say so too, but more often the word hora is omitted.

We will build on such proposals in order to clarify the minutes and other details.

To say "exactly" you need to add en punto.

Say it yourself in Spanish:

What time is it now? - It's three o'clock now
What time is it now? - Exactly six
What time is it now? - Hour

Move the cursor to check.

Consider now the cases when the minute hand is on the right side of the dial. In this case, you need to put the union y between the hour and the minute.

And for "half" the word media is used.

Don't tell medi o.

Say the following time in Spanish:

1:10
3:07
10:15
10:04
9:05
6:30

Don't confuse the words cuarto (quarter) and cuatro (four). And then someone will come eleven minutes earlier or later.

Now let's move on to the left half of the dial. Here we will use the word menos, which in this case is analogous to the Russian "without". Here's how to use it:

Such sentences can be literally translated as "eight minus ten" and "nine minus five".

Now say the following time in Spanish:

10:40
4:45
11:53

In Spanish, as in Russian, the twelve-hour principle of time determination is widespread. That is, 13:00 will also be "Es la una". Although a little less often, you can still hear "Son las trece".

To clarify the time of day, you can add the following expressions:

de la mañana - in the morning (they say before lunch)
de la tarde - day, evening (they say after dinner)
de la noche - evenings, nights (they say after dinner or how dark it got)

Son las tres de la tarde - Three o'clock in the afternoon
Son las diez de la noche - Ten o'clock at night

Tell yourself:

9:00
16:00
17:30
20:45

Some interesting information about Spanish time, habits and how to correctly distinguish the time of day. For a long time I could not understand how to distinguish between these times and therefore just greeted “Hola” ie "Hi". What is wrong with the time zone of Spain, when the morning ends and the day begins, and how to speak correctly - about this in our short story.

Did you know that Spain's current time zone is somewhat unreasonable? Take a look at a map of Europe's time zones and see why. No wonder, because Spain is geographically located almost like Great Britain. Moreover, the time zone belongs to Central Europe. As a result, the Spaniards don't get enough sleep, don't eat on time, and aren't as productive as their European neighbors. The thing is that in 1942 Franco agreed to share the time zone with Germany.

They could have changed the time zone to make better use of the sundial, but that change would have had to change other things as well, such as working hours. After the civil war, people had to have several jobs in order to feed their families and had to work both before lunch and for quite a long time afterward, in the evening. Perhaps that is why the Spaniards have such unusual lunch and dinner routines.

Times of the day

In general, the division of the day turns out to be quite interesting, but, at the same time, quite understandable. The times of the day in Spanish are as follows:

• La mañana (la manyana) - morning
• El mediodía (el mediodia) - noon
• La tarde (la tarde) - day / evening
• La noche (la night) - night

But when exactly each of these periods begins and ends, it is not always obvious. La mañana (ie morning) for them begins when the Spaniards get up and continues until they have lunch. It turns out that one can easily have a seven o'clock morning! Let's say you woke up at 7:00 and had lunch around 14:00. Here it should be noted that there may also be a snack break, which in Spain is called el almuerzo (el almuerzo) around 11:00. Such " half morning" or " mid morning».

By the way, " manyana"This is not only morning, but also" tomorrow". A " tomorrow morning"Will sound like" mañanapor la mañana ”(manyana por la manyana).

Hago una pausa y me tomo un café a media mañana.

I have a coffee break around 11:00

This expression " mid morning"Can be confusing to some, as in Spain it means almost noon.

All this time we welcome people “ Buenos días ”Ie " Good morning"Until we have lunch. After dinner has been eaten, you can say “ Buenas tardes " or " good day". This time of day is called mediaodia those. noon, the time used to mark lunch.

There is still a long day ahead and the term is used for it media tarde or late afternoon... It is during this period that siesta happens, but we will talk about it separately. So, around 5:00 pm, the kids finish school and it's time for another snack known as la merienda ... After that, sections and after-school classes begin for children and continue until 19:00 or until the parents finish their working day.

Dinner is usually around 21:00 and mainstream news programs are on TV at the same time. And after supper they start talking la noche - night... People usually do not go to bed right away and around 22: 00-23: 00 is considered prime time on television. Of course, there are some differences depending on the region and area, but, in general, the picture is exactly like this.

Examples of using phrases

When you find yourself in Spain (I can't imagine at all how you can not want to be here), be prepared for what they will say to you " morning"When for you for a long time" day”And the evening and night may not start as you expect.

Nos vemos a mediodía y nos tomamos un café.

Wrong: Let's meet at noon (12:00) and have coffee.

Right: Let's meet in the afternoon, around 15:00, for coffee.

Quedamos esta noche para cenar.

Right: We are gathered for dinner today.

However, do not book a table earlier than 21: 30-22: 00 in this case.

In total, in short, the times of the day are divided as follows (until the Spaniards are lucky enough to change them in a normal way).

I will also add that the Canary Islands have a -1 hour difference with mainland Spain, so we were lucky with that.

Of course, all these are funny facts and nothing more, no one will scold for the wrong designation of morning or evening. But this information can definitely help a tourist to navigate in an unfamiliar country and make a good impression on the locals. It is always pleasant when a foreigner addresses you correctly, without stupid mistakes and incorrect use of words. Surely each of the readers has witnessed attempts by foreigners to explain something with incorrect words (especially if you live in a city attractive for tourism). Without knowing the language and local traditions, it is very easy to find yourself in the place of such a funny tourist and, I am sure, very few people would want it.

Learn new things, learn and gain knowledge, dear readers! And we will try to help you with at least something. Thanks for attention!

Hola, ¿qué hora es? - Hello, what time is it?
Son las nueve - Nine hours

In this section, we will touch upon such a useful topic in everyday life as the definition of the time in Spanish. To learn how to navigate a Spanish clock, the knowledge of numbers learned in lesson 7 will be very useful for us. This topic itself is easy, and you can master it quickly enough.

First, let's ask the question "What time is it?" in Spanish:

¿Qué hora es? - What time is it now?

A rough answer to this question might be:

Son las ocho - Eight hours

The verb ser is always present in both the question and the answer. Only in the answer, if we are talking about all hours except one, we must put the verb ser in the plural form of son. Compare:

1:00 - Es la una - Hour
2:00 - Son las dos - Two (hours)
3:00 - Son las tres - Three (hours)
4:00 - Son las cuatro - Four (hours)
etc.

It is also mandatory to use the feminine definite article. In the case of one hour, use the article la, with all other hours - las. This is because the word hora (hour) or horas is meant here. Therefore, complete answers will look like this:

1:00 - Es la una hora - One hour
2:00 - Son las dos horas - Two hours
11:00 - Son las once horas - Eleven hours

Sometimes they say so too, but more often the word hora is omitted.

We will build on such proposals in order to clarify the minutes and other details.

To say "exactly" you need to add en punto.

2:00 - Son las dos en punto - Two hours exactly
1:00 - Es la una en punto - Exactly one hour
7:00 - Son las siete en punto - Exactly seven

Say it yourself in Spanish:

What time is it now? - It's three o'clock now
What time is it now? - Exactly six
What time is it now? - Hour

Move the cursor to check.

Consider now the cases when the minute hand is on the right side of the dial. In this case, you need to put the union y between the hour and the minute.

10:05 - Son las diez y cinco - Ten hours five minutes
7:10 - Son las siete y diez - Ten minutes past seven
11:20 - Son las once y veinte - Twenty minutes past eleven

Typically, for fifteen minutes, the Spanish use the word cuarto - a quarter.

5:15 am - Son las cinco y cuarto - Quarter to six
12:15 - Son las doce y cuarto - Quarter one

And for "half" the word media is used.

3:30 - Son las tres y media - Half past four
7:30 - Son las siete y media - Half past seven

Don't say medio.

Say the following time in Spanish:

1:10
3:07
10:15
10:04
9:05
6:30

Don't confuse the words cuarto (quarter) and cuatro (four). And then someone will come eleven minutes earlier or later.

Now let's move on to the left half of the dial. Here we will use the word menos, which in this case is analogous to the Russian “without”. Here's how to use it:

7:50 - Son las ocho menos diez - Ten minutes to eight
8:55 - Son las nueve menos cinco - Five to nine

These sentences can be literally translated as "eight minus ten" and "nine minus five".

Now say the following time in Spanish:

10:40
4:45
11:53

In Spanish, as in Russian, the twelve-hour principle of time determination is widespread. That is, 13:00 will also be "Es la una". Although a little less common, you can still hear "Son las trece".

To clarify the time of day, you can add the following expressions:

de la mañana - in the morning (they say before lunch)
de la tarde - day, evening (they say after dinner)
de la noche - evenings, nights (they say after dinner or how dark it got)

Son las tres de la tarde - Three o'clock in the afternoon
Son las diez de la noche - Ten o'clock at night

Tell yourself:

9:00
16:00
17:30
20:45
22:10

Ejercicios
Exercises

Ejercicio 1
Look at the clock and find out what time it is

Ejercicio 2
Tell the time in Spanish

12:30
16:00
1:05
14:10
7:30
6:45
20:50
13:20
23:40

Ejercicio 3
Translate into Spanish

1. What time is it? - Three hours exactly; 2. What time is it? - Five minutes past twelve; 3. What time is it? - A quarter to eight; 4. What time is it? - Ten o'clock in the morning; 5. I think it's now half past nine in the evening.

Spanish is beautiful and emotional. Perhaps the best way to learn this romantic language is through poetry. In this article, we will look at the main tenses of the Spanish language in the context of poetry and see how sentences are built using examples from poetry and poems. We hope this will help you understand the logic behind the construction of Spanish times. So let's get started!

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In Spanish, there are 3 moods of the verb: indicativo , subjunctivo and imperativo ... Inclination is a grammatical category that allows you to distinguish between verb tenses. All verb forms, with the exception of the infinitive, participle and gerund, are always in one of these moods. In this article, we will consider only the first mood.

The indicative mood - Indicativo

Estábamos, estamos, estaremos juntos. A pedazos, a ratos, a párpados, a sueños.
- Mario Benedetti.

In this quote, we can observe the conjugation of the verb estar (to be) in the past ( estábamos), present ( estamos) and future ( estaremos).

Presente

In Spanish, there are 3 categories of the verb. They can be determined by the last two letters of the infinitive ( -ar, -er, -ir), which is the main form of the verb. For regular verbs, the stem remains unchanged, and only the ending changes. Irregular verbs are conjugated differently.

To conjugate a regular verb ending in –Ar, just drop the ending –Ar and add the following:

-o ( hablo)
-as ( hablas)
-a ( habla)
-amos ( hablamos)
-áis ( habláis)
-an ( hablan)

To conjugate regular verbending in –Eror –Ir, just drop the ending and add one of the following:

-o ( bebo)
-es ( bebes)
-e ( bebe)
-emos (-er) / -imos (-ir) ( bebemos)
-éis (-er) / -ís (-ir) ( bebéis)
-en ( beben)

The following lines are from the poem (20 love poems and one song of despair), one of the most famous works of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Here is an excerpt from poem 14, where we can see the conjugation of the regular verb llegar (to arrive) and irregular verb jugar(play).

Juegas todos los días con la luz del universo. Every day you play with the light of the whole universe.
Sutil visitadora, llegasen la flor y en el agua. A timid guest in the guise of either water or a flower.

Irregular Verbs Spanish are also the most frequently used verbs, so we often come across conjugations of these particular verbs. One of these irregular verbs is ser (to be), conjugates as:

soy,
eres,
es,
somos,
sois,
son.

Here are some more examples:

Eres más que esta blanca cabecita que aprieto, You are more than just a silk head
como un racimo entre mis manos cada día.which my hand caresses like a bunch.

In the present tense, some verbs change the vowels inside the root. Such changes occur for all persons, with the exception of nosotros and vosotros, for which the root (stem) of the regular verb is preserved. There are several variations of changes within a root, but the most common is a change from ion ie... For example, the verb querer (to want) follows this rule:

Quiero hacer contigo. I want to do with you
lo que la primavera hace con los cerezos. what spring does to cherries.

Preterito Perfecto

Preterito Perfecto describes an action that began in the past and continues or is repeated in the present. Also, it can describe an action that occurred in the recent past. El Poeta a su Amada (A Poet to His Beloved) - A poem written by César Vallejo is ideal for studying Preterito Perfecto. In Spanish, Preterito Perfecto is formed with an auxiliary verb haber (have) in the indicative mood and past participles (with the endings - ado, -ido) of the desired verb. The auxiliary haber and the past participle always go together.

Amada, en esta noche tú te has crucificado sobre los dos maderos curvados de mi beso.

To form a negative sentence, add the particle no before the verb haber (auxiliary). We can see this in the following passage from the poem Vallejo, Para el Alma Imposible de mi Amada:

Amada: no has querido plasmarte jamás como lo ha pensado mi divino amor.

The past participle is formed by dropping the end of the infinitive and replacing it with -ado or - ido. Some past participles are incorrect, for example: abierto, compuesto, deshecho, resuelto, visto, escrito.

has construido tu casa you built your house
has emplumado tus pájarosyou set your birds free
has golpeado al viento you tamed the wind
con tus propios huesoswith your own hands

The lines above are an excerpt from Arbol de Diana (Diana's Tree), the fourth book of poetry by the Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik. As we can see in this example, if we discard the endings of the verbs construir, emplumar and golpear (constru-, emplum-, golpe-), we get the past participles of these regular verbs. Fortunately, regular verbs form the past participles in a similar fashion.

Preterito and Imperfecto

This poem was written by Jose Martí. Martí's most famous poem is La Niña de Guatemala (Girl from Guatemala). This wonderful Spanish poem is a good illustration of the times. Preterito... Preterito is used to describe an action that has completed at a certain point in the past, or has continued for a certain amount of time in the past, but has ended now.

On the other hand, Imperfecto is used for actions that took place in the past, but not completed at the moment. And also to designate actions in the past, which are a kind of background for other events in the past, and to describe the repetitive actions in the past. There are only two types of endings for regular verbs in imperfecto: one for verbs -ar (aba, abas, aba, ábamos, abais, aban) and one for verbs with endings -er and -ir(ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ía, ías). Just remove the ending from the main form of the verb (infinitive) and add the desired ending to form the verb in imperfecto.

En tus ojos peleaban las llamas del crepúsculoTwilight lightning fought in your eyes.
Y las hojas caían en el agua de tu alma And the creek of your soul was covered with leaves.

This is another excerpt from the poem Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperadaby Pablo Neruda. Poema 6 is about the memory of one autumn day and the woman the writer loved.

Fortunately, only three verbs are irregular in imperfecto: ser (be): era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran; ir (go): iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban; and ver (see): veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían.

Futuro Next and Futuro Simple

Y mientras anochece de pronto la mañana, And as soon as morning turns to night
yo sé que, aunque no quieras, vas a pensar en mí. I know, even without this, you will think of me.

In this excerpt from the poem Canción de la Lluvia(Song of the Rain) by José Ángel Buesa, we see it as Futuro Next action. It is formed using the verb ir in present time ( vas, second person) + a + infinitive of the verb ( pensar).

Futuro simpleon the contrary, it is used to express the possibility of an action. Unlike Futuro Proximo, this tense requires only one word, created by adding endings to the verb infinitive. All verbs are conjugated with the same endings: é , ás, á , emos, éis, án... For example:

Y tendrá un sobresalto tu corazón tranquilo,And it will strike your calm heart,
sintiendo que despierta tu ternura de ayer.feeling what has awakened your tenderness since yesterday.

In the following example, future tense endings are underlined. Poema del Renunciamiento(The Poem of Renunciation) was written by José Ángel Buesa, a Cuban poet known for his melancholic poetry.

Pasar ás por mi vida sin saber que pasaste. Pasar ás en silencio por mi amor, y, al pasar, fingir é una sonrisa, como un dulce contraste del dolor de quererte ... y jamás lo sabr ás.

Here are the most common future tense irregular verbs. The endings are formed like regular verbs, but the root changes:

caber (match): cabr-
poner (put): pondr-
decir (talk): dir-
haber (have): habr-
salir(leave): saldr
hacer (commit / do): har-
poder (can): podr-
tener(have): tendr-
querer (want / love): querr-
valer (cost): valdr-
saber (know): sabr-
venir (to come): vendr-

Next poem Todavía (Still) owned by Mario Benedetti, a Uruguayan poet. In the passage, the roots are underlined:

y si beso la osadía y el misterio de tus labios no habrá dudas ni resabios te querré más todavía.

You can explore the world of the Spanish language by opening doors to a world filled with captivating poetry. In the next article, we will consider the 2 remaining moods (subjuntivo and imperative).

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