Time & Dates in Spanish

Overview

Being able to tell time and express dates is fundamental in any language, and Spanish has its own distinct way of handling both. At the CEFR A1 level, you will learn to ask and answer questions about the time, talk about days of the week, mention months, and express calendar dates. These skills are indispensable for making appointments, understanding schedules, and talking about plans.

Spanish treats time as a feminine noun (because la hora is feminine), which means the verb and article used when telling time are feminine too. Dates follow a different pattern from English -- the day comes before the month, and you use cardinal numbers instead of ordinals. These small differences are easy to master once you see the patterns.

How It Works

Telling time

To ask the time, say: ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?)

To answer, use es for one o'clock and son for all other hours:

Time	Spanish
1:00	Es la una.
2:00	Son las dos.
3:15	Son las tres y cuarto.
3:30	Son las tres y media.
3:45	Son las cuatro menos cuarto.
12:00 (noon)	Es mediodía.
12:00 (midnight)	Es medianoche.

Key vocabulary for time:

Spanish	English
y cuarto	quarter past
y media	half past
menos cuarto	quarter to
y cinco / y diez / y veinte	five / ten / twenty past
menos cinco / menos diez	five / ten to

To ask "at what time," use: ¿A qué hora...?

• ¿A qué hora sales? -- What time do you leave?
• A las tres. -- At three.

Days of the week

Days of the week are lowercase in Spanish and are masculine:

Spanish	English
lunes	Monday
martes	Tuesday
miércoles	Wednesday
jueves	Thursday
viernes	Friday
sábado	Saturday
domingo	Sunday

Use the definite article to express "on":

• el lunes -- on Monday (specific)
• los lunes -- on Mondays (habitual)

Months of the year

Months are also lowercase in Spanish:

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
enero	January	julio	July
febrero	February	agosto	August
marzo	March	septiembre	September
abril	April	octubre	October
mayo	May	noviembre	November
junio	June	diciembre	December

Expressing dates

Dates follow the format: el + day number + de + month

• el 15 de agosto -- August 15th
• el 3 de marzo -- March 3rd
• el 1 de enero -- January 1st (use primero or uno for the first day)

To ask: ¿Qué fecha es hoy? or ¿A cuántos estamos?

Examples in Context

Spanish	English	Note
Son las tres y media.	It's half past three.	son for plural hours
Es la una y cuarto.	It's quarter past one.	es for one o'clock
El lunes tengo clase.	On Monday I have class.	article for "on"
Los viernes salgo con amigos.	On Fridays I go out with friends.	plural for habitual
El 15 de agosto.	August 15th.	day before month
¿A qué hora sales?	What time do you leave?	asking about time
Mi cumpleaños es en mayo.	My birthday is in May.	en + month
Hoy es martes.	Today is Tuesday.	no article after ser
Son las ocho menos diez.	It's ten to eight.	subtractive time
La reunión es a las cuatro.	The meeting is at four.	a las for "at"

Common Mistakes

Using son with one o'clock

• Wrong: Son la una.
• Right: Es la una.
• Why: One o'clock is singular, so you use es. All other hours use son because they are plural.

Capitalizing days and months

• Wrong: Hoy es Lunes.
• Right: Hoy es lunes.
• Why: Unlike English, Spanish does not capitalize days of the week or months of the year.

Forgetting the article with days

• Wrong: Voy lunes.
• Right: Voy el lunes.
• Why: Spanish uses the definite article (el or los) before days of the week to mean "on." Without the article, the sentence is incomplete.

Using ordinal numbers for dates

• Wrong: El segundo de marzo.
• Right: El dos de marzo.
• Why: Spanish uses cardinal numbers for dates (except sometimes primero for the 1st). You say el dos, el tres, el quince, not el segundo, el tercero, el decimoquinto.

Practice Tips

• Announce the time throughout the day. Every time you check the time, say it in Spanish: Son las once y veinte. Es la una menos cuarto. This repetition builds automatic recall.

• Write your schedule in Spanish. Use days and times together: El lunes a las nueve tengo clase de español. Combining both concepts in one sentence reinforces them simultaneously.

• Learn key dates. Practice saying important dates in your life -- your birthday, holidays, anniversaries -- in Spanish format: Mi cumpleaños es el 22 de julio.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Cardinal Numbers -- You need numbers to tell time and express dates