Does anybody know a trick to remember telling the time in Spanish?

Question

I have a MAJOR MAJOR SPANISH TEST coming up and a part of it is one telling time. I just don't seem to be getting the hang of it, and wondered if anybody knew a trick to remember it. (Any idea would be helpful)

Thank you all very much, I ended up getting a 98% on the exam. - calibeachgirl, Oct 9, 2010

Answer 1

What I've always used is a step system: 1) the preface, 2) the hour plus the minutes, and 3) the time frame.

1) The Preface: First, always begin with "Son las" unless the time is between 1:00 and 1:59. Then use "Es la."

2) The Hour and Minutes: Next, like in English, start with the number of the hour, then "y" (plus) and the number of minutes. The way I remember this is because even in English, 4:25 literally means 4 hours plus 25 minutes.

3) Time Frame: Unfortunately that leaves us with a problem. How do you know if you're talking about the morning or the afternoon? Add "de la mañana" to the end of the time if it is before 12:00, and "de la tarde" if it is after. This step is not always necessary, and try to use discretion when adding it. For example, if talking about 1:00, it is generally assumed to be in the afternoon, and the ending de la tarde is not necessary.

Examples:

7:30 in the morning - Son las siete y treinta de la mañana.

1:00 - Es la una.

Make any sense? This explanation turned out to be a bit more long-winded then I had hoped, but hopefully it gave you the answers you were looking for.

I would use 'de la mañana' rather than 'en la mañana' - FELIZ77, Oct 5, 2010

Now that you mention it, I just realized we use 'de la mañana' in my Spanish 2 class, whereas we originally learned it as 'en la mañana'... hm, interesting. Thanks for the tip! - Emeralda, Oct 5, 2010

Answer 2

Unless they are looking for a specific format, the easiest way would be to:

1. Memorize the numbers 1-60
2. Memorize "son las (hours) y (minutes)"
3. Rember to replace "son las" with "es la" if (hours) is "uno"

Example 12:45

Son las doce y cuarenta y cinco.

Example 1:05

Es la uno y cinco.

It would not be the most used way for all times ( and they may expect you to know media, de la tarde, etc.), but it is the simplest.

However, you probably already know this much if you paid any attention in class, and there really is no easier way than to actually study what they taught you.

'Paid' any attention :) - FELIZ77, Oct 5, 2010

You would barely know English is my native language. Fixed. - Stadt, Oct 5, 2010

Answer 3

Study this page, it might help.