¿Qué Hora Es? Asking and Telling the Hour
Telling the hour begins with a singular-plural choice. Ask ¿Qué hora es?, answer es la una for one, and use son las for other hours.
Learning objective
Ask the time and give exact hours with es la or son las.
Use the clock question ¿Qué hora es?, meaning What time is it? Hora means hour or time in this expression. Qué carries an accent because it is a direct question word. The answer begins with a choice based on the hour: one is singular, while every other exact hour is plural.
For one o'clock, say Es la una. Es is singular, la is the feminine singular article, and una agrees with the understood word hora. For two through twelve, say Son las plus the number: Son las dos means It is two o'clock, and Son las diez means It is ten o'clock.
Think of two clock stations. The 1:00 station has the fixed sign es la una. All other exact-hour stations have son las: son las tres, son las seis, son las once. This visual split prevents you from choosing es or son merely by copying the English phrase it is.
To state when an event happens, Spanish often uses a la una or a las dos, but that is a different frame from telling the current time. Keep the answer to ¿Qué hora es? focused on es la or son las today. Clock conventions and twelve- or twenty-four-hour displays vary by setting.
The practical goal is a fast choice you can make while looking at a clock. Check whether the hour is one, select the singular or plural frame, and then say the number. This short decision process is more useful for a new learner than memorising unrelated complete answers.
Examples
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
The phrase asks for the current clock time.
Es la una.
It is one o'clock.
One uses the singular frame es la.
Son las dos.
It is two o'clock.
Hours other than one use son las.
Son las once.
It is eleven o'clock.
Once remains inside the plural exact-hour frame.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Es las dos.
- Try
- Son las dos.
Two o'clock belongs to the plural clock frame, so son matches las dos. Es belongs only with the singular one-o'clock frame es la una in this lesson. Learn the article and verb together instead of changing only the final number.
Practice
Try it yourself
Send these clock cards to the correct station, ES LA or SON LAS: 1:00, 3:00, 7:00, 11:00. Say each complete time, then change the 3:00 card to 1:00 and repair every word that must change.