How to tell time in Spanish: Numbers 1 – 59

Let ’ s get started with the basics .First up: numbers! You’ll need to know the numbers 1 to 59 to tell the time, but once you’ve mastered a few, you’ll be fine with them all. 0 to 15 are probably the most difficult to learn, because they’re all quite different. First up : numbers ! You ’ ll need to know the numbers 1 to 59 to tell the time, but once you ’ ve mastered a few, you ’ ll be ticket with them all. 0 to 15 are probably the most difficult to learn, because they ’ re all quite different.

N.B. where we’ve given N.B. where we ’ ve given pronunciations, the apostrophe at the begin of a syllable denotes that the stress falls on that syllable, e.g. in ’ oo-no, the first syllable is emphasized .

* in this article, we ’ ve used the “ thursday ” heavy that you ’ vitamin d find in words like “ think ” or “ thanks, ” but in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world, including most of Latin America, the “ thorium ” phone will be replaced with a “ south ” sound as in “ seaside. ” From 16 forth, things start to look a bite more legitimate. All you need to remember is that “ y ” ( pronounce electrical engineering ) means “ and. ” example : 17 = > 10 + 7 = > ten and seven = > diez y siete = > diecisiete

then we get to 20, or “ veinte. ” rather of pronouncing “ veinte- ee -uno, ” we mush it all together, making the word flow better : “ veintiuno. ” example : 27 = > 20 + 7 = > twenty dollar bill and seven = > veinte yttrium siete = > veintisiete

At this period, we stop mushing things together. It ’ s just ‘ tens ’ y ‘ units. ’ You ’ ve credibly got to grips with the convention by now, but here they all are laid out just in case :

How to Ask for the Time in Spanish

following, we want to know enough vocabulary to ask for the fourth dimension !

* You might besides hear “ ¿qué horas son ? ” in some parts of Latin America, but overall it ’ s less normally used than “ ¿qué hora vitamin e ? ”. To respond to this question, we use the verb “ ser ” ( “ to be ” ). rather of x o ’ clock, spanish speakers count hours. exercise : Son las 8 = > it is 8 ( hours ) = > it is 8 oxygen ’ clock. normally, you ’ ll need to use “ son las … ” ( sohn la ) to mean “ it is ” but occasionally you use “ einsteinium louisiana ” ( ehs la ). This is because “ son louisiana ” is used for plural times, i.e. anything bigger than 1 o ’ clock. “ Es la ” is singular, so it ’ s used for 1 o ’ clock ( and x minutes past 1 ).

How to Say o’clock in Spanish

then, let ’ s have a spirit at the watch times :

Bonus tip

normally, when we say “ it ’ second 12 o ’ clock, ” we know whether it ’ s the center of the day or the center of the night by, like, seeing if it ’ second dark outside. But sometimes we prefer to make it excess net :

“Half past” in Spanish

When it ’ second half past the hour, we use “ yttrium media, ” ( electrical engineering ’ meh-dee-ah ) which means “ and half. ” See if these examples make sense :

“Quarter past” in Spanish

To say that it ’ s quarter past the hour, we add “ yttrium cuarto ” ( electrical engineering ’ kwahr-toh ), which means “ and quarter. ”

Makes sense, right ? !

“Quarter to” in Spanish

Like in English, we can hush use the bible for “ one-fourth, ” but this time we say “ menos cuarto ” ( ’ meh-nohs ’ kwahr-toh ) meaning “ minus quarter. ” So, we ’ re taking a quarter away from the hour that we ’ ra set about. For case :

Some countries will use these versions rather to mean the like thing : “ Falta united nations cuarto para lanthanum x. ” “ Es cuarto para lanthanum x. ”

“Minutes past” in Spanish

For highly specific numbers ( i.e. not quarters or halves ), we have a pretty simple rule ! We fair say the “ o ’ clock ” sting and then say “ y ” ( “ and ” ) and add the issue of minutes past the hour ! This will become clear once we ’ ve seen some examples .

“Minutes to” in Spanish

And for minutes to the hour, you guessed it, we use “ menos ” ( ’ meh-nohs ). simple, right ?

A few extras

If you ’ ve got all that, and want to know some excess vocab on how to tell time in spanish ( that will make you reasoned super native ), take a look at these :

* You might besides hear “ y pico, ” which is understand as “ a few minutes past ” in some places, but in other countries, it could refer to anything up to around 50 minutes past the hour.

12-hour vs 24-hour clock

Depending on where you ’ re from, you may be more used to the 12-hour clock than the 24-hour clock ( military meter ). In spanish-speaking destinations, you could encounter both. Like in English, speak spanish tends to use the 12-hour clock, even if the time is sometimes written in the 24-hour format. For example, if you were reading out field times, the page in front of you might say “ 15:00, ” but you ’ d say to your supporter on the phone, “ it starts at 3. ”

Mini-test

It ’ second time ( see what I did there ? ) for a mini-test ! Use the guidebook we ’ ve given you and see if you can figure out what the watch phrases mean .

1. Es la una.

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It ’ s 1:00 .

2. Es mediodía.

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It ’ south noon .

3. Son las tres y media.

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It ’ s 3:30 .

4. Son las cuatro y cuarto.

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It ’ mho 4:15 .

5. Son las siete menos cuarto.

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It ’ second 6:45 .

6. Son las ocho y diez.

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It ’ mho 8:10 .

7. Son las nueve menos cinco.

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It ’ south 8:55 .

8. Son las once en punto.

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It ’ s precisely 11 on the dot .

9. Son las once de la mañana.

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It ’ mho 11 am.

Keep practicing …

Whether you ’ ve struggled with revealing fourth dimension in spanish or found it reasonably slowly, practicing spanish day by day will help you get to grips with telling the time. Numbers are used frequently in everyday animation, so the more you speak, the more opportunity you ’ ll arrive to practice them ! If you know any native Spanish-speakers, try on and practice what you ’ ve learn with them. ¡Buena suerte!