At what time is open? in Spanish

We are going to introduce the  adjective –OPEN– that will be useful for our communication, eventually. Of course, like English, we do have the verb –TO OPEN– to express when a place opens, but it is not time yet to see verbs, so we will stick with -SER- and -ESTAR- and the different uses.

First think that if the action of being -opened- is temporary or permanent ? Well, a place will be open and also closed… It is very weird to find a place opened 24/7 (it is possible for sure), but even so, we will think that eventually that place can be closed and this idea will take us to the use of the temporary verb –ESTAR– when is mixed up with the adjective –OPEN-.

→ Remember that –ABIERTO– is an adjective, so it will have the same gender (masculine/feminine) and the form (singular/plural) as the person or thing that is referring to. Let’s see it in a clear example:

¿DESDE QUÉ HORA ESTÁ ABIERTA LA ESCUELA?

SINCE WHAT TIME IS OPENED THE SCHOOL?

8:00  AM

LA ESCUELA ESTÁ ABIERTA DESDE LAS OCHO

THE SCHOOL IS OPENED SINCE THE EIGHT 

◊Note:

1. ESTÁ, is the verb temporary –ESTAR– and it is used because we are referring to a temporary action. The school can be opened and can be closed as we had explained and it is conjugated in 3rd person singular -LA ESCUELA ESTÁ– (The school is).
2. ABIERTA, is a feminine/singular adjective as refers to – ESCUELA– and this is a feminine/singular noun.
3. DESDE, as we have learned, is the preposition –SINCE– that expresses a starting point in time.

→ Let’s see another example:

¿HASTA QUÉ HORA ESTÁ ABIERTO EL CINE?

UNTIL WHAT TIME IS OPENED THE CINEMA?

10:00  PM

EL CINE ESTÁ ABIERTO HASTA LAS DIEZ

THE CINEMA IS OPENED UNTIL THE TEN 

◊Note:

1. ESTÁ, is the verb temporary –ESTAR– and it is used because we are referring to a temporary action. The cinema can be opened and can be closed as we had explained and it is conjugated in 3rd person singular -EL CINE ESTÁ– (The cinema is).
2. ABIERTO, is a masculine/singular adjective as refers to – CINE– and this is a masculine/singular noun.
3. HASTA, as we have learned, is the preposition –UNTIL– that expresses a limit/ending point of the cinema opening time.

→ And one more example:

¿A QUÉ HORA ESTÁN ABIERTAS LAS TIENDAS?

AT WHAT TIME ARE OPENED THE SHOPS?

11:00  AM

LAS TIENDAS ESTÁN ABIERTAS A LAS ONCE

THE SHOPS ARE OPENED AT THE ELEVEN 

◊ Note:

1. ESTÁN, is the verb temporary –ESTAR– and it is used because we are referring to a temporary action. The shops can be opened and can be closed as we had explained and it is conjugated in 3rd person plural -LAS TIENDAS ESTÁN– (The shops are).
2. ABIERTAS, is a feminine/plural adjective as refers to – TIENDAS– and this is a feminine/plural noun.
3. A, as we have learned is the preposition –AT– and expresses the occurring time of this activity.

→ In the next post, we are going to see the opposite of open, – closed- , of course, and the use of it.