How to tell time after 30

Question

I have learned that when telling time if it's past 30 you would say the next hour minus the amount of minutes it will take to reach that hour.

For example if it's 4:40 I learned to say: Son las cinco menos veinte.

However, I was doing a lesson on here and the instructor said 9:50: Son las nueve y cincuenta.

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So I was wondering how native speakers tell time. Which way is more common in Spanish-speaking countries?

Answer 1

A very widely excepted method, much more commonly used is (para).

3:35 = Son las veinte cinco para las cuatro

3:45 = Es un cuarto para las cuatro. -or- Son quince para las cuatro.

3:50 = Son diez para las cuatro.

The other methods already discussed are also used...and they are fine. However, the method I discussed for times above 30 has gained in popularity.

It is presently being included in updated learning materials.

veinticinco...is the newer spelling for twenty five. - viejito, Aug 14, 2012

Answer 2

You are correct. In Spain it is common to do the "subtracting" way of telling time.

4:45-- Son las cinco menos cuarto. (cuarto is used for "quarter", and you can use it to say "quarter past the hour" too: 3:15 "Son las tres y cuarto"

4:50-- Son las cinco menos diez.

But you can also say "Son las cuatro y cincuenta." I have mostly heard the "subtraction" way of saying time, however, in Spain.

I am not sure how Latin America does it, though.

Answer 3

You are correct, in Latin America the common way is subtracting, and this is to the old way too (from the time the clocks and watches had "hands"), after the clocks showing the numbers mostly replaced the old ones lot of people started to say "seis cincuenta"(six fifty)(because that was exactly what they were reading). In some places in Latin America we use military time (sort of) ,we say Son las dieciocho y cuarenta (18:40) (It is eighteen forty)

Same in English after the advent of digital watches. - ian-hill, Aug 13, 2012