Time has already been explained in the difference of hours and minutes, but yet, we have to be more specific about the moment of the day of those times: Morning, afternoon, evening or night –AM or PM-. In Spanish, of course, we also specify the moment of these periods of the day that we are giving, but, it is a little bit longer in their expression. Let’s see:
A.M. refers to the morning time
From -00:00 AM- until noon -12:00 PM-
A.M. → DE LA MAÑANA
2:00 AM→SON LAS DOS DE LA MAÑANA
ARE THE TWO OF THE MORNING
→ (IT’S TWO, A.M.)
PM refers to the afternoon, evening and night time
It goes from noon time -12:00 PM- until midnight -00:00 AM-
In Spanish these 12 hours, are split in 2 periods within the day:
◊ PM – from 12:00 PM until 9:00 PM
→ DE LA TARDE
-Of the afternoon/evening-
◊ PM – from 9:00 PM until 00:00 AM
→ DE LA NOCHE
-Of the night-
5:00 PM → SON LAS CINCO DE LA TARDE
ARE THE FIVE OF THE EVENING
→ (IT’S FIVE, P.M.)
10:00 PM → SON LAS DIEZ DE LA NOCHE
ARE THE TEN OF THE NIGHT
→ (IT’S TEN, P.M.)
◊ Eventually, –DE LA NOCHE-, also can be used in early morning times; it depends on the context that you are in. Let’s explain it better.
If you are dancing with your friends and it’s like three in the morning -3:00 AM-, probably people would use -DE LA NOCHE- instead of -DE LA MAÑANA-, because it gives probably a better feeling thinking that the night is still young, rather than thinking that is morning time and the party gets over sometime soon 😉
In the same way, a person that is going to work very early in the morning, probably is going to use -DE LA MAÑANA- instead -DE LA NOCHE-, so, he highlights that is a terrible early morning time where he finds himself going to work. It’s a matter of self-understanding of what is a very sensitive situation ®.
However, besides that human time expression of the context, remember that the time we separate the hours of the day in three big moments:
◊ A.M.→Morning time
00:00 A.M.→12:00 P.M.
→DE LA MAÑANA
-Of the morning-
◊ P.M.→ Noon or evening time
12:00 P.M.→9:00 P.M.
→DE LA TARDE
-Of the afternoon/evening-
◊ P.M.→Night time
9:00 P.M.→00:00 A.M.
→ DE LA NOCHE
-Of the night-
