📖LearnModule 2 · Lesson 29 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, completedUnit 6 · The house and the clock
Y media, y cuarto — the quarters
Module 2 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 29 of 30: Half past is y media: son las tres y media. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
y media
half past
ee MEH-dyah
y cuarto
quarter past
ee KWAR-toh
menos cuarto
quarter to
MEH-nohs KWAR-toh
son las tres y media
it is half past three
sohn lahs trehs ee MEH-dyah
son las seis y cuarto
it is quarter past six
sohn lahs says ee KWAR-toh
son las siete menos cuarto
it is quarter to seven
sohn lahs SYEH-teh MEH-nohs KWAR-toh
de la mañana
in the morning (am)
deh lah mah-NYAH-nah
de la tarde
in the afternoon (pm)
deh lah TAR-deh
el minuto
the minute
ehl mee-NOO-toh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Half past is y media: son las tres y media. Quarter past is y cuarto: son las seis y cuarto. Quarter to borrows from the NEXT hour: son las siete menos cuarto is 6:45.
Y también · And also
Morning, afternoon and night replace am and pm: a las ocho de la mañana, a las tres de la tarde, a las nueve de la noche. Read a clock aloud three times a day this week.
Ojo · Watch out
menos cuarto borrows from the NEXT hour: las siete menos cuarto is 6:45, not 7:45. And "at" a time is a las: a las tres, a la una.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with y media.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 29 in Module 2 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.