Tiempo vs weather (clima) & time vs tiempo, vez, hora. 5 minutes of Spanish
Hey, what's up, friends?
In these 5
minutes of Spanish in the middle of the week we are going to talk about the “tiempo”.
Yes, the “tiempo”. In Latin America we say that when we want to start a
conversation with someone we don't know, we talk about the weather.
How does the heat treat you? Or, in a Zoom class we start with a general
conversation to break the ice and ask, how's the weather over there? Very hot?
How many degrees?
We talk a lot about the weather
because it's part of our lives and it's not up to us to change it, just to
adapt to it, right? (¿A poco no?)
But the word “tiempo” has many
specific uses and can be a little complicated. In these 5 minutes we are going
to reflect on the use of “tiempo” as weather or climate, the equivalents of the
word time in Spanish and some expressions with the word.
1Time about weather
We refer to time as weather and
usually combine it with the verb to do.
Qué buen tiempo hace en Cuernavaca, le dicen la eterna primavera.
What good weather there is in
Cuernavaca, they call it the eternal spring.
It was very good in June in Los
Cabos, it was not so hot.
En la Baja, Todos Santos tiene muy buen clima, siempre hace buen
tiempo, no llueve casi nunca y en verano no hace demasiado calor. ¡qué bueno!
In the Baja, Todos Santos has very
good weather, it's always good, it hardly ever rains and in the summer it's not
too hot.
2 The word time in
English has 3 equivalents in Spanish: tiempo, hora and vez
1 Time = amount of
time
I'm sorry, I don't
have time.
Lo siento, no tengo
tiempo.
When you see someone
you haven't seen in a long time:
Hola María, ¡tanto
tiempo! ¿qué es de tu vida? ¿y la familia?
Hello Maria, it's been a long time!
What's your life? And the family?
El tiempo pasa muy rápido, ya estamos a finales de
julio.
Time passes very
quickly, it's already the end of July.
Como decía Lennon el tiempo es eso que pasa mientras
estamos ocupados haciendo otras cosas.
As Lennon said, time is that which
passes while we are busy doing other things.
Tengo muchas actividades y no tengo tiempo
para estudiar español. (este ejemplo no me gusta, pero es real)
I have a lot of activities and no
time to study Spanish. (I don't like this example, but it's real)
¿Tienes un
tiempo para mí hoy?
Do you have some time for me today?
O si quiero un poco de
tiempo lo decimos en diminutivo, para ser más amables o más cariñosos: ¿Tienes
un tiempito para mí esta noche?
Or if I want a little time, we say
it in diminutive, to be nicer or more affectionate: Do you have a little time
for me tonight?
Hace mucho tiempo que conozco a Pancho era
compañero mío de la secundaria, ahora es un diplomático ¡Las vueltas de la
vida!
I've known Pancho for a long time.
He was a classmate of mine in high school, now he's a diplomat.
Mi madre decía siempre: El tiempo es oro. No malgastes el tiempo, haz cosas
productivas.
My mother always said: Time is
money. Don't waste time, do productive things.
El tiempo histórico - Historical
time
En los
tiempos prehispánicos la comida era muy saludable, comían maíz, chile y
tomates. En aquellos tiempos tenían muy buena dentadura pues no usaban azúcar
refinada en sus comidas, aunque si les gustaban los dulces.
In pre-Hispanic times the food was
very healthy, they ate corn, chili and tomatoes. In those times they had very
good teeth because they did not use refined sugar in their meals, although they
did like sweets.
¿Leyeron “El amor en los Tiempos del
Cólera”?
Have you read "Love in the Time
of Cholera"?
2 Time= hour
In this case we are referring to a
specific time measurement.
What time did you study yesterday? ¿A qué hora estudiaste ayer?
From 4:00 to 6:00, and I made a lot
of progress on the project.
What time is the Spanish workshop on
Saturdays?
¿A qué hora es el taller de español de los sábados?
It's at 12:00 noon Cabo time
3 Times = vez, a veces (in this case
frequency is indicated)
Do you remember the first time you
went abroad? Who did you go with?
¿Recuerdas la primera vez que viajaste al extranjero?
Next time you visit Mexico, you have
to come to Cabo.
La próxima vez que visites México, tienes que venir a Cabo.
You'll see, this time it's going to
be much better, all the subscribers of the Spanish in Cabo newsletter will
listen to this podcast
Vas a ver, esta vez va a ser mucho mejor, todos los subscriptores
del boletín de Spanish in Cabo van a escuchar este podcast.
Or maybe you can hear a mother
saying this:
Guadalupe, I'm telling you for the
last time, I don't want you to make noise, you're disturbing the neighbors.
Guadalupe, te lo digo por última vez, no
quiero que hagas ruido, molestas a los vecinos.
I go to the club four times a week
but I only swim twice.
Voy al club 4 veces por semana pero
solo nado 2 veces.
4 - Some phrases with the word tiempo:
At the same time – at once (al mismo
tiempo - a la vez)
Women do a lot of things at once,
but men don't.
Las mujeres hacemos muchas cosas a la vez,
pero los hombres no.
Make time or make time for (hacer
tiempo o hacerse tiempo para)
I have a lot of things to do, but
I'll make time to listen to the podcast, I promise.
Tengo un montón de cosas para hacer,
pero me voy a hacer tiempo para escuchar el podcast, te lo prometo.
I'm gonna answer these whats apps to
make time.
Voy a
contestar estos whats apps para hacer tiempo.
Finally, some phrases with time in
English
On time
I'm always on time. (Siempre llego a
tiempo) Oops, sometimes it's not true!
“a veces” sometimes
Sometimes I watch horror movies /
Sometimes I'm not on time
A veces miro películas de terror / A veces no llego a tiempo
De vez en cuando - from time to time
From time to time we go around the
city looking for new places
De vez en cuando recorremos la ciudad buscando nuevos lugares.
Decir la hora - to tell the time
What time is it? / Do you have the
time? / Can you tell me the time please?
¿Qué hora es? / ¿Tienes hora? / ¿Me dices la hora, por favor?
Pasar un buen (o un mal) rato - to have a good (or a bad) time
We had a great time! ¡Nos la pasamos muy bien!
Those were great times at the
university. Fueron buenos tiempos los de la
Universidad.
And at school we learn to multiply
Por - times
3 x 4= 12 (3 por 4 doce – 3 times 4
twelve)
2x 8 = 16
9 x 9 = 81
Do you know the multiplication
tables? - No
Una y otra vez - time after time or
again and again
The mother says again: Guadalupe I
tell you time after time to keep your clothes in the closet.
Otra vez la
madre dice: Guadalupe te lo digo una y otra vez guarda tu ropa en el closet.
Ya es (era) hora - it is (was) ABOUT
TIME.
It was time for us to record
podcasts to practice Spanish in an easier way
Ya era hora de que grabáramos podcasts para
practicar español en forma más sencilla.
Ser hora o tiempo de - to be time to
It's time to finish this weather
podcast.
Es hora de terminar este podcast del tiempo.
Finally, and this is not related to
tiempo but to thyme.
We love thyme! And it is very good
for the throat very useful in times of (en los tiempos de) Covid 19
We hope you had a good time with the
podcast of the “tiempo”
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