Daily Routine & Telling Time
Daily Routine & Telling Time
Spanish tells time with a feminine 'the' agreeing with hora ('hour') that's silently implied — es la una but son las dos — a quirk English's plain 'it's one o'clock' doesn't have at all, since English never changes 'it's' based on the hour.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Es la una vs. Son las + plural hours
Es la una. (It's one o'clock.) / Son las tres. (It's three o'clock.)
It's one o'clock. / It's three o'clock. — English 'it's' never changes
Spanish uses the singular es only for one o'clock (es la una — literally 'it is the one'), and switches to the plural son for every other hour (son las tres). English 'it's' stays exactly the same regardless of the hour, so this singular/plural verb switch is a genuinely new habit with no English shortcut to lean on.
Reflexive verbs for routine actions
Me levanto a las siete. (I get up at seven.)
I get up at seven. — English needs no extra 'self' word either
Many daily-routine verbs in Spanish are reflexive — levantarse ('to get oneself up'), ducharse ('to shower oneself') — needing a pronoun like me that English doesn't require for the equivalent everyday action ('I get up', not 'I get myself up'). Watch for these reflexive pronouns; forgetting them is one of the most common beginner mistakes.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| Spanish | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| la mañana | lah mah-NYAH-nah | morning |
| la tarde | lah TAR-deh | afternoon |
| la noche | lah NOH-cheh | evening / night |
| despertarse | des-per-TAR-seh | to wake up |
| levantarse | leh-vahn-TAR-seh | to get up |
| desayunar | deh-sah-yoo-NAR | to have breakfast |
| Es la una. | ehs lah OO-nah | It's one o'clock. |
| Son las tres. | sohn lahs trehs | It's three o'clock. |