time around 1:00

Question

I'm teaching time to my Spanish 1 students. The tradition way of telling time past the 30 minutes requires subtracting from the next hour--ex-3:40 is Son las tres menos veinte. However, we had a class discussion about what to do when the time is after 12:30. If I were to follow the rule, a time like 12:50 would be es la una menos diez. I had a native speaker say that it sounds funny and he said--"Son la una menos diez." Could anyone help to clarify the Es la/son la debate?

Answer 1

Well, here in Southwestern US we must be "unorthodox" dare I say "untraditional" even! As for your example of 3:40 (1540 military, as we also say), we normally just say "Faltan viente para las cuatro" or even simpler, "son viente para las cuatro" - just wondering if any others concur?

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Sorry, my comment may be addressing another aspect of telling time! But for 1 o'clock, logic dictates singular conjugation, no? :) - cristalino, Sep 1, 2011