01 · Ask it straight
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
The one question that opens every scheduling conversation.
andbefluent.com/spanish/time-traveler
Time Traveler
Tell the time, name any day or month, and pin down real plans out loud.
Ask with ¿Qué hora es? — and answer with son las for every hour except one o'clock: Son las dos, but Es la una. Add y media for half past, y cuarto for quarter past, and if the time actually matters, say en punto — because ahorita in Mexico can mean five minutes or two hours, and la hora latina makes arriving a bit late socially normal. One more thing that flags a learner: days and months are lowercase in Spanish — lunes, enero, never capitalized mid-sentence.
Below: the days, the months, and the clock phrases lesson by lesson, the cultural time-traps — and a way to schedule real plans out loud, no clock worksheets.
The warm-up pack
The days, the hours, and the plans people actually pin down out loud.
01 · Ask it straight
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it?
The one question that opens every scheduling conversation.
02 · The only singular hour
Es la una.
It's one o'clock.
Every other hour is plural — son las dos, son las tres — but one o'clock always takes es la, never son las.
03 · Everything else is plural
Son las dos.
It's two o'clock.
The default pattern for every hour except one — swap in any number.
04 · What you'll actually hear
¿Qué horas son?
What time is it? (Mexico, colloquial)
Technically plural and "wrong" — completely normal in speech across Mexico.
05 · Setting a plan
¿Qué hacés el viernes?
What are you doing on Friday? (Argentina, voseo)
The everyday way Argentines make plans — swap in any day of the week.
06 · Locking in a time
Nos vemos a las 6.
See you at 6.
In Colombia and Venezuela this usually means 6:30 in practice — build the cushion in before you agree.
07 · When it has to be exact
A las 3 en punto.
At exactly 3 o'clock.
En punto is the phrase that overrides hora latina — say it when you actually mean it.
08 · A little after
Son las dos y pico.
It's a little after two. (Argentina)
For when the clock doesn't need to be exact — nobody's checking the minute hand.
09 · Deliberately vague
Horita vengo.
I'll be right back. (sort of)
Said with no real promise attached — Latin American time is elastic on purpose.
10 · The sacred slot
El domingo familiar.
Sunday family lunch.
Say this and everyone knows exactly what you mean — lunch at grandma's, no explanation needed.
11 · A date everyone knows
El 15 de septiembre.
September 15th.
Mexico's biggest date on the calendar — the night of El Grito, before Independence Day.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/time-travelerRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
No clock faces to label, no calendar drills. In the Time Traveler lessons, Olivia makes you use time the way you will in the street: she asks ¿Qué hora es? and you answer for real — Son las dos y media. Then you're confirming a restaurant reservation by phone: day, date, time, and you repeat each back once to lock it in — en punto if it has to be exact. By the last lesson, el finde has plans on it, in Spanish.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Time Traveler is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
¿Qué hora es? is the standard everywhere. In Mexico you'll also hear the very colloquial ¿qué horas son? — plural, technically ungrammatical, completely normal in speech.
Es la una — one o'clock is the only singular hour. Everything else takes the plural: son las dos, son las tres.
No. Write lunes and enero, not Lunes or Enero — they're only capitalized at the start of a sentence. It's one of the easiest ways to spot (or stop being) a beginner in writing.
Anywhere from five minutes to two hours — it is deliberately not literal, like al rato. If you genuinely need an exact time, the key phrase is en punto: a las 3 en punto.
Y media is half past and y cuarto is quarter past — son las dos y media. Quarter to is menos cuarto, and Argentines round loosely with las dos y pico — a little after two.