Understanding Realidades 1 Chapter 3a Exercise 8
This exercise asks you to write the correct time in Spanish based on what is shown on clocks or described in each prompt. Chapter 3a is all about telling time, so you need to know how to say "es la una" for 1:00 and "son las" for every other hour, then add minutes if needed. Here are the answers for the typical version of exercise 3a.8 that appears in most printings of the textbook: 1. Son las dos y media. (2:30)
2. Son las once y cuarto. (11:15) 3. Es la una menos cinco. (12:55) 4. Son las tres y diez. (3:10)
5. Son las siete y media. (7:30) 6. Son las doce y veinte. (12:20) 7. Son las cinco menos veinte. (4:40)
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8. Son las ocho y media. (8:30) Some editions vary slightly in the numbers or order, but the grammar rules stay the same no matter which version you have. If your exercise has different numbers, apply the same pattern to whatever times your book shows. The main thing students mess up is using "es" instead of "son" or vice versa. If the hour is one, you say "es la una." For everything else, you use "son las" plus the hour. So 2:30 is "son las dos y media," not "es la dos y media." I've seen that mistake on essentially every first homework assignment since I started teaching this material.
Another common error is mixing up "y" and "menos." Use "y" when the minutes go from 1 to 30. Use "menos" when the minutes go from 31 to 59, because you are counting backward to the next hour. So 4:40 is "son las cinco menos veinte," not "son las cuatro y cuarenta." The latter is technically understandable but it is not the way the book teaches it and you will lose points for it. Also keep in mind that "mediodía" is 12:00 noon and "medianoche" is 12:00 midnight. If the exercise specifically references those, the answer is just "Son las doce en punto." Some editions include a prompt like that and students write "es la doce" by mistake because they forgot the plural rule applies to twelve too. If you want to verify your answers independently, check the Realidades 1 Teacher Edition answer key for Chapter 3. You can also find the audio recordings online on the publisher's website, Pearson, which will read the times out loud. Listening to them while you write the answers will help you catch any errors before you submit your homework. That approach cuts down the grade penalty from missing the "y" versus "menos" distinction, which accounts for probably half the wrong answers I see from students on this exercise.
One edge case that trips people up: when the minute is exactly 15, some teachers accept "y cuarto" but the textbook answer key uses "y cuarto" for 15 and "y media" for 30. Don't write "y quince" unless your teacher specifically allows it. The book treats "cuarto" and "media" as the preferred forms for those two specific minute marks.
