At this hour? A éstas horas VS A ésta hora

Question

In this show, they say:

• Tienes una llamada.
• ¿Y? ¿De quién es?
• ¿A éstas horas?

So is it ¿A éstas horas? and not ¿A ésta hora? for at this hour, this late? Gracias.

Answer 1

Yes, "a estas horas" is commonly used for "at this hour". Maybe it has something to do with the plural structure that is used for time (except 1:00), I don't know. But is it very common. Just as ":Qué horas son?" is sometimes heard for "What time is it?" if it is clearly not 1:00.

Answer 2

I think it's slighty different "a estas horas" and "a esta hora".

For me, "a estas horas" is commonly used to say "it's too late or too early for this to happen". Once a friend of mine offered me a beer at 9 in the morning, to have breakfast. The answer was "¿a estas horas?", meaning it was too early to drink. I guess that could be the proper tranlation for *at this hour?"

Then "a esta hora" would mean something like "at exactly this moment". For example, "nos vemos mañana a esta hora" means if now it's 3 o'clock, I'll be meeting my friend tomorrow at 3 o'clock again. I'm not expressing my opinion about if it's too late or too early, it's just a moment of the day.

I also think it's slighty different "¿qué hora es?" and "¿qué horas son?". Again, if I'd like to know what time it is, I'll probably ask "¿qué hora es?". But I would probably hear "¿qué horas son?" from my mom saying "¿qué horas son estas?" if I should be home at 3 in the morning and I'm coming at 6. Again, I guess she knows what time it is, but she means I'm "a bit" late...

Great expanation Loa. :) - galsally, Sep 4, 2010

Answer 3

I don't think the accent mark is right. Estas horas vs. esta hora depends on what time it is, I think.