How to Tell the Time in Spanish (2024)

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.

N.B. where we’ve given pronunciations, the apostrophe at the beginning 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 “th” sound that you’d find in words like “think” or “thanks,” but in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world, including most of Latin America, the “th” sound will be replaced with a “s” sound as in “seaside.”

From 16 onward, things start to look a bit more logical. All you need to remember is that “y” (pronounced ee) means “and.”

Example: 17 => 10 + 7 => ten and seven => diez y siete => diecisiete

Then we get to 20, or “veinte.” Instead of pronouncing “veinte-ee-uno,” we mush it all together, making the word flow better: “veintiuno.”

Example: 27 => 20 + 7 => twenty and seven => veinte y siete => veintisiete

How to Ask for the Time in Spanish

Next, we want to know enough vocabulary to ask for the time!

*You might also hear “¿qué horas son?” in some parts of Latin America, but overall it’s less commonly used than “¿qué hora es?”.

To respond to this question, we use the verb “ser” (“to be”). Instead of x o’clock, Spanish speakers count hours.

Example: Son las 8 => it is 8 (hours) => it is 8 o’clock.

Usually, you’ll need to use “son las...” (sohn lahs) to mean “it is” but occasionally you use “es la” (ehs lah). This is because “son las” 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

So, let’s have a look at the following times:

Some countries will use these versions instead to mean the same thing:

“Falta un cuarto para las x.”

“Es cuarto para las x.”

Depending on where you’re from, you may be more used to the 12-hour clock than the 24-hour clock (military time). In Spanish-speaking destinations, you could encounter both. Like in English, spoken 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 theater times, the page in front of you might say “15:00,” but you’d say to your friend on the phone, “it starts at 3.”

It’s time (see what I did there?) for a mini-test!

Use the guide we’ve given you and see if you can figure out what the following phrases mean.

1. Es la una.

2. Es mediodía.

3. Son las tres y media.

4. Son las cuatro y cuarto.

5. Son las siete menos cuarto.

6. Son las ocho y diez.

7. Son las nueve menos cinco.

8. Son las once en punto.

9. Son las once de la mañana.

Whether you’ve struggled with telling time in Spanish or found it pretty easy, practicing Spanish daily will help you get to grips with telling the time.

Numbers are used often in everyday life, so the more you speak, the more opportunity you’ll get to practice them! If you know any native Spanish-speakers, try and practice what you’ve learnt with them.

¡Buena suerte!