Counting Time: Numbers, Hours, and Calendar in Spanish
Numbers are the building blocks of practical communication. Whether you're shopping at a mercado, making restaurant reservations, or catching a bus, numbers open doors to independence in Spanish-speaking environments.
The Number Foundation: 0-20
Think of numbers 0-15 as unique snowflakes - each one special and must be memorized. After 15, Spanish numbers follow patterns like a mathematical dance!
Del Cero al Quince Zero to fifteen — each one its own word
cero0 SEH-roh
uno1 OO-noh
dos2 dohs
tres3 trehs
cuatro4 KWAH-troh
cinco5 SEEN-koh
seis6 says
siete7 see-EH-teh
ocho8 OH-choh
nueve9 noo-EH-veh
diez10 dee-EHS
once11 OHN-seh
doce12 DOH-seh
trece13 TREH-seh
catorce14 kah-TOHR-seh
quince15 KEEN-seh
The Pattern Magic: 16-99
graph TD
A[Numbers 16-99] --> B[16-19 Special Format]
A --> C[20-29 Veinti + number]
A --> D[30-99 Tens + y + ones]
B --> E[16: dieciséis diez y seis joined]
C --> F[21: veintiuno veinte + uno joined]
D --> G[31: treinta y uno thirty and one]
style A fill:#FFE66D
style B fill:#FF6B6B
style C fill:#4ECDC4
style D fill:#96CEB4
The Tens Family
Las Decenas The tens
veinte20
treinta30
cuarenta40
cincuenta50
sesenta60
setenta70
ochenta80
noventa90
Números Compuestos Putting them together
dieciséis16 — one word, and it keeps its accent
diecisiete17
dieciocho18
diecinueve19
veintiuno21 — the twenties join up too
veintidós22
treinta y uno31 — from thirty on, three separate words
cuarenta y cinco45
noventa y nueve99
cien100 — ciento uno for 101
Where the joining stops
16 to 29 contract into a single word — dieciséis, veintiocho. From 31
upward they stay apart, joined by y: treinta y uno, never
treintiuno. The contracted forms are also where the written accents cluster:
dieciséis, veintidós, veintitrés.
Telling Time: The Spanish Clock
Spanish tells time like a story - "It is the one" (Es la una) or "They are the three" (Son las tres). Time has personality!
The hands read son las tres y media — half past three.
¿Qué Hora Es? Telling the time
Es la una1:00 — singular, because it's one
Son las dos2:00 — plural for every other hour
Son las dos y cuarto2:15
Son las tres y media3:30
Son las cinco menos cuarto4:45 — "five minus a quarter"
Son las siete y diez7:10
Es mediodíait's noon
Es medianocheit's midnight
en puntoon the dot
Why es for one and son for everything else
The verb agrees with the hour, not with the clock: la una is one thing, so
es la una; las dos is more than one, so son las dos.
The same logic makes it es mediodía. Latin America counts forward past the
half hour — son las cuatro y cuarenta
y cinco — as readily as it counts backward with menos.
Days of the Week: Your Weekly Companions
The five weekdays all end in -es; the two weekend days break the pattern
with sábado and domingo.
Los Días de la Semana The days of the week
lunesMonday LOO-nehs
martesTuesday MAHR-tehs
miércolesWednesday mee-EHR-koh-lehs
juevesThursday HWEH-vehs
viernesFriday vee-EHR-nehs
sábadoSaturday SAH-bah-doh
domingoSunday doh-MEEN-goh
el fin de semanathe weekend
Two things English speakers get wrong here
Days are not capitalised in Spanish — lunes, not Lunes.
And "on Monday" needs no word for "on": the article carries it.
El lunes tengo clase is on Monday I have
class; los lunes tengo clase shifts it
to on Mondays, every week. The five weekday names are identical in the singular and
the plural — only the article changes.
Months of the Year: The Calendar Journey
Many Spanish months are cousins to their English counterparts - close enough to recognize, different enough to practice!
Los Meses del Año The months — lower-case, like the days
eneroJanuary
febreroFebruary
marzoMarch
abrilApril
mayoMay
junioJune
julioJuly
agostoAugust
septiembreSeptember
octubreOctober
noviembreNovember
diciembreDecember
Las Fechas Saying the date
¿Qué fecha es hoy?What's today's date?
Es el quince de mayoIt's the 15th of May
el primero de enerothe 1st of January — the only ordinal used
hoytoday
mañanatomorrow — also "morning"
ayeryesterday
la semana que vienenext week
el mes pasadolast month
Dates run small to large
Spanish gives the day before the month, joined by de:
el quince de mayo de dos mil
veintiséis. Written short, that is 15/5/2026 — so a Spanish
5/6 is the 5th of June, not the 6th of May. Ordinary cardinal numbers do the work
throughout; only the first of the month takes primero.
Practical Time and Date Phrases
Asking About Time
¿Qué hora es? - What time is it?
¿A qué hora...? - At what time...?
¿Cuándo es...? - When is...?
Common Time Expressions
de la mañana - in the morning (AM)
de la tarde - in the afternoon/evening (PM until dark)
de la noche - at night (PM after dark)
en punto - on the dot/exactly
Practice Workshop
Exercise: Number Building
Write these numbers in Spanish:
17: ________________
25: ________________
33: ________________
58: ________________
94: ________________
Answers: diecisiete, veinticinco, treinta y tres, cincuenta y ocho, noventa y cuatro
Exercise: Time Telling
How would you say these times in Spanish?
1:00 PM: ________________
3:15 AM: ________________
6:30 PM: ________________
11:45 PM: ________________
Real-World Applications
Making a Restaurant Reservation
You: Quisiera hacer una reservación para el viernes.
Host: ¿Para cuántas personas?
You: Para cuatro personas.
Host: ¿A qué hora?
You: A las siete y media de la noche.
At the Market
Vendor: Son quince pesos el kilo.
You: Quiero dos kilos, por favor.
Vendor: Son treinta pesos.
You: Aquí tiene cuarenta.
Vendor: Su cambio, diez pesos.
Memory Trick: The 15-Minute Rule
Spanish uses quarters for time:
y cuarto = quarter past (:15)
y media = half past (:30)
menos cuarto = quarter to (:45)
Think of the clock as a pie - you're adding or subtracting slices!
Your Daily Number Practice
Morning: Count your steps in Spanish (uno, dos, tres...)
Shopping: Read prices in Spanish
Throughout the day: Check the time and say it in Spanish
Evening: Plan tomorrow using Spanish days
Before bed: Count backwards from 20 in Spanish
Numbers are everywhere - make them your Spanish practice partners!