Time
- now
- ahora (ah-OH-rah)
- later
- después (dehs-PWEHS)
- before
- antes (ahn-TEHS)
- morning
- mañana (mah-NYAH-nah)
- afternoon
- tarde (TAHR-deh)
- night
- noche (NOH-cheh)
Clock time
- one o’clock AM
- la una de la madrugada; la una de la mañana (lah OOH-nah deh lah mah-droo-GAH dah; lah OOH-nah deh lah mah-NYAH-nah)
- two o’clock AM
- las dos de la madrugada; las dos de la mañana (lahs DOHS deh lah mah-droo-GAH dah; lahss DOHS deh lah mah-NYAH-nah)
- ten o’clock AM
- las diez de la mañana (lahs dee-EHS deh lah mah-NYAH-nah)
- noon
- mediodía; las doce de la mañana (lahs DOH-seh deh lah mah-NYAH-nah)
- one o’clock PM
- la una de la tarde (lah OOH-nah deh lah TAHR-deh)
- two o’clock PM
- las dos de la tarde (lahs DOHS deh lah TAHR-deh)
- ten o’clock PM
- las diez de la noche (lahs dee-EHS deh lah NOH-cheh)
- midnight
- medianoche; las doce de la noche (meh-dee-yah-NOH-cheh ; lahs DOH-seh deh lah NOH-cheh)
Writing Time
When speaking, times are given in AM/PM form (but saying de la mañana (morning), de la tarde (afternoon), de la noche (evening/night) or de la madrugada (late night) to distinguish between AM and PM. On the other hand, in most countries times are rendered in 24-hour format, with a colon separating hours and minutes:
- 9 o’clock AM
- nueve de la mañana (spoken: NWEH-beh deh la mah-NYAH-nah), 9:00 (written)
- 12:30 PM
- doce y media de la mañana (spoken: DOH-seh ee MEH-dee-ah deh la mah-NYAH-nah), 12:30 (written)
- 1 o’clock PM
- una de la tarde (spoken: OOH-nah deh lah TAHR-deh), 13:00 (written)
- 10 o’clock PM
- diez de la noche (spoken: dee-EHS deh la NOH-cheh), 22:00 (written)
- 2 o’clock AM
- dos de la madrugada or dos de la mañana (spoken: DOHS deh la mah-droo-GAH-dah or DOHS deh la mah-NYAH-nah), 2:00 (written)
Duration
- _____ minute(s)
- _____ minuto(s) (mee-NOO-toh(s))
- _____ hour(s)
- _____ hora(s) (OH-rah(s))
- _____ day(s)
- _____ día(s) (DEE-ah(s))
- _____ week(s)
- _____ semana(s) (seh-MAH-nah(s))
- _____ month(s)
- _____ mes(es) (MEHS-(ehs))
- _____ year(s)
- _____ año(s) (AH-nyoh(s))
Days
- today
- hoy (OH-ee)
- yesterday
- ayer (aah-YEHR)
- tomorrow
- mañana (surely you know how to pronounce this word: mah-NYAH-nah)
- this week
- esta semana (EHS-tah seh-MAH-nah)
- last week
- la semana pasada (lah seh-MAH-nah pah-SAH-dah)
- next week
- la semana que viene (lah seh-MAH-nah keh vee-EH-neh)
- Monday
- lunes (LOOH-nehss)
- Tuesday
- martes (MAHR-tehss)
- Wednesday
- miércoles (mee-EHR-coh-lehss)
- Thursday
- jueves (WEY-vess)
- Friday
- viernes (vee-EHR-nehss)
- Saturday
- sábado (SAH-bah-doh)
- Sunday
- domingo (doh-MEEN-goh)
The week begins on Mondays.
Months
- January
- enero (eh-NEH-roh)
- February
- febrero (feh-BREH-roh)
- March
- marzo (MAR-thoh)
- April
- abril (ah-BREEL)
- May
- mayo (MAH-joh)
- June
- junio (HOO-nee-oh)
- July
- julio (HOO-lee-oh)
- August
- agosto (aah-GUS-toh)
- September
- septiembre (sep-TEE-EHM-breh)
- October
- octubre (ok-TOO-breh)
- November
- noviembre (no-VEE-EHM-breh)
- December
- diciembre (dee-CEE-EHM-breh)
Writing Dates
Dates are given in day-month-year form. All spoken and written, long and short forms follow this pattern:
- May 7th, 2003
- 7 de mayo del 2003
- October 23rd, 1997
- 23 de octubre del 1997
Day-month constructions (4 de julio, for example) are not usually abbreviated. In the rare cases that an abbreviation is used, the number of the month is not used, but its initial letter is. Usual examples are:
- 23-F
- 23 de febrero, date of a failed coup d’état in Spain (1981)
- 11-S
- 11 de septiembre, date of the attack to the Twin Towers (2001) (and of the Chilean coup in 1973).