Al tiempo

Sun, Mar 27, 2016

In recent entries we have looked at some expressions with the word tiempo. Let's look at a few more, including the difference between al tiempo and a tiempo.

Un tiempo

The expression un tiempo is a good translation of a long while, longer than un rato.

El tiempo

Although I was dutifully taught in Spanish class to ask about the weather with el tiempo, in Mexico you're more likely to hear ¿Cómo está el clima? Here, clima refers not to the seasonal weather patterns but to the current weather conditions. Some possible responses are hace frío, está lloviendo, hace mal tiempo. This last one means: It's bad out.

Here are some expressions with el tiempo:

Tiempos

In plural, tiempos refers to a long period, or to repeated periods, of time.

Al tiempo, a tiempo

Even though tiempo isn't really used for asking about the weather, as we've said, it does work for temperature in one case.

Don't confuse al tiempo with a tiempo, which is about timing.

Speaking of timing, that's a hard word to translate. The dictionary will tell you sincronización. However, something like Good timing! would probably be Llegaste justo a tiempo.

© 2003-2024 Mark R. Alexander