How to use prepositions of time in Spanish?

• The preposition a can mean “at” and is used when talking about the hour:

  Usualmente llego a casa a las 5.

  I usually get home at 5.

  Important

  When telling the time in Spanish, we always need the combination a + las + time. When the hour is “one,” we use: a + la + time:

  Salgo de casa a las ocho y vuelvo a la una.

  I leave home at eight and I get back at one.

• A can also mean “after” to indicate the period of time after something happened:

  Se casaron a los seis meses.

  They got married after six months.

  Tip

  Use the preposition a + articleNo definition set for articleLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. el to make the contraction al when using a masculineNo definition set for masculineLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. singularNo definition set for singularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. noun.

  Cancelaron el programa al mes de estrenar.

  The show was canceled after a month of release.

• One of the uses of the preposition de is to introduce a part of the day corresponding to an hour:

  Termino de estudiar a las 8 de la noche.

  I finish studying at 8 in the evening.

• Use the preposition de for the following periods of the day: de día ("at daytime"), de noche ("at night time"), or de madrugada ("at dawn").

  Prefiero estudiar de noche.

  I prefer to study at night time.

  Exception!

  With mediodía ("noon") and medianoche ("midnight") use the preposition a.

  Prefiero comer al mediodía.

  I prefer to eat at noon.

• You can also use de (combined with a) to indicate the starting and ending points of an action or situation:

  Anoche estudié de 8 a 10.

  Last night I studied from 8 to 10.

With the combo de…a... we don’t need the definite article (la, las) we typically use to tell the time!

There’s another combo we can use to express starting and ending points of an action. To find out, let’s keep reading!

• Por can mean “for” when we want to express the duration of an activity or event:

  Comimos por dos horas.

  We ate for two hours.

• Use por + the definite article la to indicate a part of the day:

  Por la mañana me gusta hacer ejercicio.

  In the morning, I like to work out.

We use the article la because the parts of the day in Spanish are feminine: la mañana ("the morning"), la tarde ("the afternoon"), la noche ("the evening").

To talk about deadlines or a specific destination in time, use para ("for, by")

When the deadline is a day of the week, use the definite article el; and when it’s an hour, use the definite article la/las.

If you’re ready to learn more uses of the prepositions por and para, don’t miss the post we’ve written on it!

This one is easy. Whenever we want to talk about months, seasons, and years, we introduce them with the preposition en ("in")

Simple, right?

• We can also use en to introduce a period of time in the future in which something is going to happen or is expected to happen:

  En una hora termino el examen.

  I’ll finish the test in an hour.

• Finally, we can use en in phrases such as en este momento ("in this moment"), en ese momento ("in that moment"), en cualquier momento ("in any moment"), en algún momento ("sometime/at some point"), or en ningún momento ("never" → "at no moment"):

  En este momento estoy muy ocupada.

  At the moment, I’m very busy.

As you can see, en is a pretty versatile preposition!

If you want to indicate when an action started, desde ("since") is your go-to preposition:

You can add years, months, days, hours, or time phrases, such as el año pasado ("last year") after desde.

Just as with desde, we can use hasta ("until") to indicate when an action or situation ended:

• You can also use hasta to mean “see you (on)” in expressions like ¡Hasta mañana! ("see you tomorrow" → "until tomorrow") or with days of the week: ¡Hasta el miércoles! ("see you on Wednesday" → "until Wednesday").

If you want to emphasize the duration of an action or event, then the preposition you need is durante ("during"):

You can use the preposition tras ("after") as a synonym of después de ("after"). Use it to indicate that one event happened after another:

Finally, we have the preposition entre ("between") that can be used to indicate an intermediate situation, or a period of time between two different hours, days, weeks, years, etc.:

What are other types of prepositions in Spanish? I’m glad you asked, we also have prepositions of place and movement in Spanish, for which we also have a post! And while you’re at it, check out how to use prepositions with Spanish interrogative words and a post on the most common prepositions in Spanish!