Palabra Lexi · common words in Spanish

How to say "hour" in Spanish

"Hour" in Spanish is hora, pronounced OH-rah (stress on the syllable in capitals). In short: clock time and hours (¿Qué hora es?, "What time is it?"). It is a feminine noun (la hora, plural las horas).

Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The speaker button uses your browser's built-in Spanish voice. Gender and plural: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

How to pronounce hora

Hora is pronounced OH-rah, in IPA /ˈoɾa/. Hora has two syllables, OH-rah, with the stress on the first. There is no written accent because the word follows the basic rule: words ending in a vowel, -n or -s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.

• H is silent.

Listen: normal and slow speed, in your browser's Spanish voice. IPA: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Is hora masculine or feminine?

Hora is feminine, so it takes la (the) and una (a): la hora. The plural is las horas. That fits the usual pattern: most nouns ending in -a are feminine.

Example sentence

¿Qué hora es?
what time is it?

"Hour" in Spain and Latin America

Regional words and roots: Diccionario de la lengua española (RAE). Spanish varies by region, so treat these as the most common patterns, not strict rules.

How to remember hora

hora [OH-rah] sounds like the English “aura”. Picture this:

The hour has an aura: clocks glow gold a minute before the alarm.

A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method, a well-studied way to learn vocabulary. How it works.

Practice hora

Two quick games, right here: no sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere.

hora, tiempo or vez: which one?

Not to be confused with a similar word. In short:

• hora (hour): clock time and hours (¿Qué hora es?, "What time is it?").
• tiempo (time, weather): time in general and how much of it you have (No tengo tiempo, "I have no time"); it also means "weather".
• vez (time (occurrence)): an occurrence, counting how many times (tres veces, "three times"; otra vez, "again").