Time duration again

Question

I have found a thread about time duration in this forum, however, it is still confusing to me, so I hope some advanced/native Spanish speaker can help me with these two translations for time duration.

From certain hour to certain hour, say, "from 1pm to 4pm ", is this correct?

"de la una a las cuatro de la tarde"

From certain day to certain day, say "from January 1 to February 5", are both these correct?

1. "desde el primero de enero hasta el cinco de febrero"

2. "del primero de enero al cinco de febrero".

cuatro - typo :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 16, 2012

Answer 1

"de la uno a las cuadro de la tarde"

Incorrect.

De la una a las cuatro de la tarde.

The other two sentences are correct.

ah, you are right about the numbers, I should be more careful. - JazSpanish, Jan 16, 2012

Answer 2

Here's a ref article that might be useful Using desde

Followed by a time, to indicate when an action begins: Desde 1900 hasta 1945, las exportaciones netas se encontraban cercanas a cero. (From 1900 to 1945, net exports were found to be close to zero.) Carlos es desde esta tarde el nuevo presidente. (Since this afternoon, Carlos has been the new president.) ¿Desde cuándo lo sabes? (Since when have you known that? For how long have you known that?)

Answer 3

Hmm I'll have to look for the rules behind that but generally I tend to use 'de' in the kind of sentences that you have given but 'desde' to mean 'from' when there's some kind of movement involved. He threw his books from the car. (desde) That kind of thing

Not saying that desde would be wrong of course - used like you have there with 'hasta' it also looks good and doesn't sound wrong at all.

Thanks for the link. - JazSpanish, Jan 16, 2012