"es de mañana" or "es la mañana"?
Translate: It is morning.
My school book translates it as "es de mañana", but could it also be "es la mañana"? Also, since the state of being morning is temporary/conditional, why isn't it "está de mañana"?
Thank you in advance 
8 Answers
You haven't mentioned the other common construction: por la mañana (in the morning) en la mañana exists, but it is regional.
Son las seis de la mañana. It is 6 a.m.
Voy a hacerlo mañana por la mañana. (I going to do it tomorrow morning). [tomorrow in the morning]
Regarding the use of Ser or Estar, an alternate viewpoint could be:
definitions:(just examples, not accurate definitions)
sunrise to noon =morning (mañana)
noon to sunset =afternoon (tarde)
sunset to sunrise=night(noche)
6:00 a.m.=morning
Ser is used for CID: classification,indentification,definition
Since we're dealing with definitions we use Ser; not Estar
certain not a "rule", but a memory tool
It serves no purpose in understanding other time expressions like por la mañana or de la mañana, but helps you to remember not to say
<<están las once de la mañana>>
(Spanish doesn't have a specific word for evening (other than tarde), though it can express the concept... early .vs. late in the afternoon..two hours before sunset, dark, nightfall, twilight, etc.)
I believe the answer may be in the difference between the word used for tomorrow-"mañana" and the word used for morning-"la mañana". I am studying a phase book that translates "She is going to begin tomorrow morning." as: "Ella va a comenzar mañana en la mañana."
It seems that the article "la" is used to indicate morning and without the article the translation is tomorrow.
Can anyone confirm this?
Whether we have a word for madrugada depends on the context. If you are using it for wee hours of the morning we don't have a word for it. But sometimes it is used for dawn (amanecer), or sunrise (salida del sol) and we have words for those.
Of course there are ways to express the concept of "madrugada" in English, just as there are ways to express "evening" in Spanish. It's the existence or absence of a specific word that I find curious.
In the context of early in the morning or predawn hours what times would you say that madrugada normally spans?
I don't think it's the specific hour span that makes the word important. To me it reflects more the "mood" of the period: the silence in the streets, the fact that most people are asleep, that it is the preferred time of the day for lovers, drunks, and thieves. Consider this popular saying:
Al que madruga Dios le ayuda
Can you translate it to English and retain both the simple philosophy and the inherent poetry? I can't.
Spanish doesn't have a specific word for evening (other than tarde)
And English doesn't have a word for "madrugada". I find it curious that different languages break up the day in different segments.
About "evening", it seems the further you are from the Equator the more you need to distinguish between the end of the afternoon and the time it actually gets dark. I would guess that Scandinavian languages must have even more words to describe the various periods of the day.
It's not está manaña because you are really referring to a point in time that has a 'name' of morning. That time between midnight and noon is always called "morning" thus you use ser (es manaña). I think time is correctly expressed with "de la manaña" because you're expressing what hour 'of' the morning (or evening) it is. Hope this helps.
AS a matter of fact, I would have said:
es por la mañana
Is there a sentence'
Spanish doesn't have a specific word for evening (other than tarde)
And English doesn't have a word for "madrugada". I find it curious that different languages break up the day in different segments.
About "evening", it seems the further you are from the Equator the more you need to distinguish between the end of the afternoon and the time it actually gets dark. I would guess that Scandinavian languages must have even more words to describe the various periods of the day.
I know a Swede, I'll find out.
Whether we have a word for madrugada depends on the context. If you are using it for wee hours of the morning we don't have a word for it. But sometimes it is used for dawn (amanecer), or sunrise (salida del sol) and we have words for those. In the context of early in the morning or predawn hours what times would you say that madrugada normally spans? In English wee hours of the morning can mean anything from shortly after midnight until sunrise. (wee-small numbers, 1-5, I would guess). Both languages seem a little strange about how they deal with night. We have a midnight (medianoche) so why not an early night and late night. Actually we use those terms early/late night, but they usually refer to the hours before midnight rather than after it.
Ahh that makes sense. Thank you for the reply Victoria
