Confusion! Help

Question

I signed up for Spanishdict so that i can review lessons from my teacher and get new vocabulary. Today I finished a lesson on telling time and it is contradicting what my teacher has told us. My teacher told us if the time is, for example, nine fifty, to say son las diez menos diez. The lesson i did today told me to say son las nueve y cincuenta. What one is proper?

the proper is::::::las nueve y cincuenta:: - joelbenji, Jan 29, 2013

Welcome to the forum. - rogspax, Jan 29, 2013

Both work. - annierats, Jan 29, 2013

Answer 1

Yes, they're not really conflicting. Just two differing, and correct, methods.

Like English Nine-Fifty vs Ten 'til Ten or Ten of Ten.

This is the flip-side of us having so many resources today - they can confuse. There's said to be an old chinese proverb: A man with two watches never knows what time it is. Not sure if true, but the jist is clear.

Hope that assists and calms.

Excellent point about overabundance of resources. - sinmeta, Jan 29, 2013

Good proverb! - Noetol, Jan 29, 2013

Answer 2

There are many appropriate ways of telling time. Both of your methods are correct. Another would be diez para las diez.

Cool, I didn't know that one. We have some more obscure ones like 10 of 10, which are odd too. - rogspax, Jan 29, 2013

Answer 3

I think the one your teacher told you is proper (las diez menos diez), but saying it the other way (las nueve y cincuenta) is very common in everyday speech. I'm not sure that "las nueve y cincuenta" is wrong; it may be the difference between saying in English 9:50 or "10 of 10".

Agreed, it is exactly that. - rogspax, Jan 29, 2013