Years ago I learned to use "menos" when stating time in the second half of the hour, such as "son las siete menos diez", for 6:50. But, Rocket Spanish is saying that you should say "es diez para las siete". And, it is suggested that "es séis y cincueta" is acceptable. I would appreciate some clarification of this. Thank you very much for help with this!
Una pregunta sobre decir tiempo en la segunda mitad si la hora
DaleS15
February 29, 2020
Liss-Rocket-Languages-Tutor
March 2, 2020
¡Hola DaleS15!
Thank you for your question!
It is absolutely possible to use menos when telling the time in Spanish - Son las siete menos diez for 6:50 would be perfectly acceptable. In Latin America, however, there is another possibility, and that is to use para as taught in Lesson 2.7 (for 6:50, it would be Son diez para las siete - you'll need to use son here rather than es, since there is more than one minute). The form with para was chosen to introduce telling the time simply because the course focuses on Latin American Spanish.
You could indeed also say Son las seis y cincuenta - just like you have the option of saying "it's ten to seven" or "it's six fifty" in English.
I hope that this was helpful! Do let me know if you still have any questions on this.
Saludos,
Liss
Thank you for your question!
It is absolutely possible to use menos when telling the time in Spanish - Son las siete menos diez for 6:50 would be perfectly acceptable. In Latin America, however, there is another possibility, and that is to use para as taught in Lesson 2.7 (for 6:50, it would be Son diez para las siete - you'll need to use son here rather than es, since there is more than one minute). The form with para was chosen to introduce telling the time simply because the course focuses on Latin American Spanish.
You could indeed also say Son las seis y cincuenta - just like you have the option of saying "it's ten to seven" or "it's six fifty" in English.
I hope that this was helpful! Do let me know if you still have any questions on this.
Saludos,
Liss