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telling time: 4:45 | WordReference Forums
Does telling time in Spanish always require me to use math? Like is it really necessary?
Telling time in Spanish
How do you say 4 45 in spanish as time?
In English I never use the “quarter til” talk and I never use estimates but in a portion of my Spanish grammar book they’re adding and subtracting.
In my book, one section says to translate It is 3:35 p.m. so I wrote “ Son las tres y treinta y cinco de la tarde “ but the book says that Son las cuatro menos veinticinco de la tarde is the answer.
No way will I have to be doing math like that right ??😩 Was the answer I gave acceptable?
THANKS TO ALL THE HELPFUL RESPONSES 🫶
In my Spanish classes, we've learned that the formal time in Spanish has 2 parts. The first part was before the 30 minute mark, and had you say, for example, "Son las once y trece." After the 30 minute mark, you'd subtract the time, like in "Son las once menos trece." Now, I'm not the best at math, so subtracting isn't exactly my speciality. My Mexican friend told me that you could use the "informal" way where you add the entire way through, like "Son las once y cinquenta."
I hope that was a good enough explanation, but the question is what is the most used form to tell time? Formal or informal? Cause informal seems way more practical than having to subtract in the formal variation