Days, Months, and Telling Time in Spanish

1. Days of the week

Days of the week are not capitalised in Spanish, unlike English. To say something happens on a particular day you use the article rather than a preposition: "el lunes" means on Monday, and "los lunes" means on Mondays, every week. There is no Spanish equivalent of the English "on" here.

2. Months of the year

Months are also lower-case. Dates run day-then-month — "el 5 de mayo", the 5th of May — and the day is an ordinary number, not an ordinal, with the single exception of the first of the month, which is "el primero".

3. Telling the time

Use "es la una" for one o'clock and "son las…" for every other hour. Add "y" for minutes past the hour and "menos" for minutes to the hour.

4. Telling the time the way people actually do

Spanish builds the clock around the hour, adding minutes with y up to the half hour and then subtracting them with menos on the way to the next. Two twenty is las dos y veinte; twenty to three is las tres menos veinte. Latin America often prefers faltan veinte para las tres, which is the same idea phrased as a countdown. The 24-hour clock appears on timetables, tickets and official notices, but people speak in twelve and add de la mañana, de la tarde or de la noche. Note that la tarde stretches until nightfall — around nine in summer Spain — so las ocho de la tarde is perfectly normal.

Use it in context

Days and times almost always come up while arranging to meet someone.

1. —¿Qué hora es? —Son las cuatro y media.
   'What time is it?' 'It's half past four.'
2. El martes tengo clase a las siete menos cuarto.
   On Tuesday I have class at quarter to seven.
3. Nos vemos el viernes por la tarde.
   See you on Friday afternoon.
4. Mi cumpleaños es en agosto.
   My birthday is in August.
5. La reunión empieza a las diez en punto.
   The meeting starts at ten o'clock sharp.
6. Los domingos no trabajo.
   I don't work on Sundays.

Both are correct — they mean different things

Telling the time past the half hour
Es la una y treinta y cinco. — It's one thirty-five.
Son las dos menos veinticinco. — It's twenty-five to two.
Both are correct. Counting down with menos is usual in Spain, while counting up from the last hour is at least as common across Latin America and is what a digital clock pushes everyone towards.

Common mistakes

en Lunes → el lunes
Spanish uses the article, not a preposition, and days are not capitalised. El lunes means on Monday; los lunes means every Monday.

Son la una → Es la una
One o'clock is the only singular hour, so it takes es and la. Every other hour takes son las.

Quick check

1. ___ las tres. — Son / Es

   Show the answer

   Son — Every hour but one takes son las. Only one o'clock takes es la.

2. Which says 'on Monday'? — el lunes / en lunes

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   el lunes — Spanish uses the article, not a preposition.

3. Son las siete ___ cuarto. (6:45) — menos / y

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   menos — Counting down to seven. Y cuarto would be 7:15.