Unit 10 · Numbers, Time and Dates

Picture a soccer coach calling out jersey numbers at practice. "¡Número siete!" (Number seven!) "¡Número once!" (Number eleven!) To follow her, you need the first sixteen numbers in Spanish. They start with cero (zero), uno (one), dos (two), tres (three), cuatro (four) and cinco (five).

Next come seis (six), siete (seven), ocho (eight), nueve (nine) and diez (ten). Then the teens begin, but only some of them are special words. Once (eleven), doce (twelve), trece (thirteen), catorce (fourteen) and quince (fifteen) must be memorized. There is no pattern to lean on yet.

English speakers often mix up once and onze or say "doze" for doce. Say each word slowly. The final -e in once, doce, trece, catorce and quince is always pronounced, like the e in "bet." Notice that seis ends in -s and that dieciséis, coming next lesson, carries an accent mark.

Why learn these so carefully? Almost every bigger number reuses them. Treinta y cinco (thirty-five) needs cinco. Ciento doce (one hundred twelve) needs doce. Learn these sixteen well, and you have the bricks for the whole building.

Your cousin texts, "Somos diecisiete en la fiesta" (We are seventeen at the party). The word looks long, but look inside it. Diecisiete is diez y siete, ten and seven, squeezed into one word. The z of diez becomes c, and y becomes i: dieci + siete.

The same glue works for all of them: dieciséis (16), diecisiete (17), dieciocho (18), diecinueve (19). Then comes veinte (twenty). After veinte, the pattern repeats with veinti-: veintiuno (21), veintidós (22), veintitrés (23), veinticuatro (24), veinticinco (25).

Watch the accent marks. Dieciséis, veintidós, veintitrés and veintiséis all carry one. The accent keeps the stress on the last syllable after the words are glued together. A missing accent is a spelling mistake, so write them every time.

One more detail. Before a masculine noun, uno shortens to un, and veintiuno shortens to veintiún: veintiún libros (twenty-one books). Before a feminine noun it becomes veintiuna: veintiuna sillas (twenty-one chairs). When you just count, say veintiuno.

Imagine a basketball score at halftime: cuarenta y dos a treinta y ocho (42 to 38). Starting at thirty, numbers stop being glued into one word. You say the tens, then y (and), then the ones: cuarenta y dos is forty and two.

Here are the tens: treinta (30), cuarenta (40), cincuenta (50), sesenta (60), setenta (70), ochenta (80), noventa (90) and cien (100). Most end in -enta. Watch the pairs that English speakers mix up: sesenta (60) and setenta (70), and seis, siete, sesenta, setenta all starting with s.

The y goes only between tens and ones. Say cincuenta y cinco (55), not cincuenta cinco. Do not add y after an exact ten: sesenta is sixty all by itself. A common mistake is gluing these like the twenties, as in treintaiuno. In standard spelling, write treinta y uno as three words.

Once you know the tens, you can say any number up to 99. Setenta y siete is 77. Noventa y nueve is 99. Ochenta y cuatro is 84. The tens do the heavy lifting, and the ones you already know fill in the rest.

A sign at a school fundraiser reads: "Meta: cien dólares" (Goal: one hundred dollars). By the end of the day, the class has raised ciento quince dólares (one hundred fifteen dollars). Both numbers start with one hundred, but the words are different.

The rule is short. Use cien when the number is exactly 100, even before a noun: cien personas (one hundred people), cien libros (one hundred books). Use ciento when more numbers follow: ciento uno (101), ciento cincuenta (150), ciento noventa y nueve (199).

English speakers often say "un ciento" because English says "a hundred" or "one hundred." Spanish never puts un in front: just cien. Another common mistake is "ciento" alone for 100. Remember: ciento is never the last word of a number.

Notice there is no y after ciento. You say ciento veinte (120), not ciento y veinte. The y only lives between tens and ones, as in ciento treinta y dos (132). Ciento cuarenta y uno (141) follows the same idea.

Back at the mercado, a blanket costs doscientos cincuenta pesos (250 pesos, an example price). Doscientos is dos (two) plus cientos (hundreds). Many hundreds work this way: doscientos (200), trescientos (300), cuatrocientos (400), seiscientos (600) and ochocientos (800).

Three hundreds break the pattern, so learn them on purpose. Five hundred is quinientos, not cincocientos. Seven hundred is setecientos, not sietecientos. Nine hundred is novecientos, not nuevecientos. These three are the most common number mistakes in Spanish class.

The hundreds also agree with the noun, like adjectives. With a masculine noun, use -cientos: doscientos pesos. With a feminine noun, use -cientas: doscientas personas (two hundred people), quinientas sillas (five hundred chairs).

Put the pieces together from left to right: hundreds, tens, ones. Setecientos cuarenta y ocho is 748. Novecientos nueve is 909. Quinientos is 500 all by itself. Read each piece aloud as you go, and the number builds itself.

The school library hopes to collect mil libros (one thousand books) this year. Mil is the word for 1,000. Like cien, it never takes un in front. English says "one thousand," so learners add un mil, but Spanish just says mil.

To go past a thousand, keep adding pieces: mil uno (1,001), mil quinientos (1,500), dos mil (2,000). Mil does not add -es when you count thousands. Say dos mil, tres mil, not dos miles.

Years are said as full numbers in Spanish, not in pairs like English. The year 1492 is mil cuatrocientos noventa y dos. The year 2026 is dos mil veintiséis. English splits 1492 into "fourteen ninety-two," but Spanish never does.

Writing numbers also looks different in many Spanish-speaking countries. Many use a period for thousands and a comma for decimals: 1.500 means fifteen hundred there. Mexico usually writes it like the United States: 1,500. Read the context before you read the number.

A teacher orders supplies: una caja (one box), un lápiz (one pencil) and doscientas hojas (two hundred sheets of paper). Most numbers never change. But uno and the hundreds act like adjectives, so they match the noun’s gender. Gender means whether a noun is masculine or feminine.

Uno becomes un before a masculine noun: un libro (one book), treinta y un libros (thirty-one books). It becomes una before a feminine noun: una mesa (one table), veintiuna mesas (twenty-one tables).

The hundreds switch -cientos to -cientas for feminine nouns: trescientas personas (300 people), quinientas páginas (500 pages). Cien and mil never change: cien sillas, mil casas. Cien and mil stay the same.

English numbers never change, so English speakers forget this. A useful habit: find the noun first, decide if it is el or la, then say the number. Doscientos pesos but doscientas personas.

At a taquería in Little Village, you point at the menu and ask, "¿Cuánto cuesta un taco?" (How much does a taco cost?) The server says, "Cuesta tres dólares" (It costs three dollars, an example price). Cuesta means it costs.

When you ask about more than one thing, the verb changes to cuestan: "¿Cuánto cuestan los tacos?" (How much do the tacos cost?) The answer matches: "Cuestan tres dólares cada uno" (They cost three dollars each). One thing, cuesta. Many things, cuestan.

Prices with cents use con or y. Many people say cinco dólares con cincuenta (five dollars and fifty cents). In Mexico, prices are in pesos, and the symbol $ is also used for pesos. Check the country before you guess the currency.

A common mistake is ¿Cuánto es cuesta? with an extra verb. Keep it short: ¿Cuánto cuesta? Another option at the register is ¿Cuánto es? (How much is it?), which asks for the total.

A new friend says, "Mi número es el siete, setenta y tres, cuarenta y cinco, ochenta y dos." (My number is 7-73-45-82.) In many Spanish-speaking places, people read phone numbers in pairs. So you need to understand two-digit numbers quickly.

To ask for a number, say "¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?" (What is your phone number?) Use cuál, not qué, in this question. English speakers often say ¿Qué es tu número?, which sounds like asking what a phone number is.

Some people read one digit at a time, and both ways are fine. A zero in a pair is read as cero: 05 is cero cinco. If you did not catch it, ask "¿Puedes repetir, por favor?" (Can you repeat, please?)

Practice by reading your own number both ways. First, digit by digit. Then, in pairs. Listening to the pairs trains your ear for prices, ages and times too. When a friend reads her number, write each pair down right away.

Meeting a new classmate, you ask, "¿Cuántos años tienes?" (How old are you?) She answers, "Tengo trece años." Word for word, that is "I have thirteen years." Spanish uses tener (to have) for age, not ser or estar (to be).

Here are the forms you need. Tengo (I have), tienes (you have, informal), tiene (he, she or you formal have). So: Tengo doce años. Mi hermano tiene nueve años (My brother is nine). ¿Cuántos años tiene usted? (How old are you, formal?)

The most common mistake copies English: "Soy doce" or "Estoy doce años." Both are wrong. Always use tener plus the number plus años. With twenty-one, remember the short form: Tengo veintiún años.

Watch the spelling of años. Without the tilde, anos means something very different and rude. The ñ is its own letter, so always write años with ñ. On a keyboard without ñ, hold the n key or use the accent menu to find it.

Your cousin in Puerto Rico is doing homework over video chat. She reads, "Ocho más cinco son trece" (Eight plus five is thirteen). Más means plus. Son means equals here; it is a form of ser (to be).

Subtraction uses menos (minus): "Veinte menos siete son trece" (Twenty minus seven is thirteen). Multiplication uses por (times): "Seis por siete son cuarenta y dos" (Six times seven is forty-two). Division uses entre: "Diez entre dos son cinco."

Many speakers say son when the answer is more than one, and es when the answer is one: "Tres menos dos es uno" (Three minus two is one). You will also hear es for every answer, as in "Dos más dos es cuatro," and igual a (equals). All of these are correct, so choose one and use it steadily.

Doing math out loud is great practice. It forces you to say numbers quickly, the way you need them at a store. Try checking change in Spanish the next time you buy something. Say the whole problem aloud.

You are waiting for the bus in Humboldt Park, and an older man asks, "Perdón, ¿qué hora es?" (Excuse me, what time is it?) You check your phone. It says 3:00. You answer, "Son las tres" (It is three o’clock).

Look closely at that answer. Spanish uses the verb ser (to be) and the word las, which stands for las horas (the hours). Because the hours are plural, you say son las: son las dos, son las cuatro, son las once.

One o’clock is different. There is only one hour, so the verb and article are singular: "Es la una" (It is one o’clock). English speakers often say "Son la una" or "Es las una." Match everything to una: es la una.

Notice that hora means hour or time on a clock. Spanish does not use tiempo for clock time. ¿Qué tiempo hace? asks about the weather, not the clock. For clock time, always use la hora.

Your soccer practice starts at 4:15. In Spanish, you say "Son las cuatro y cuarto." Word for word, that is "the four and a quarter." Spanish adds minutes to the hour with y (and). It is simple once you see it.

Two words save you time. Cuarto means quarter, fifteen minutes. Media means half, thirty minutes. So 7:15 is las siete y cuarto, and 7:30 is las siete y media. You can also say y quince and y treinta, and people will understand.

Other minutes work the same way: 2:10 is las dos y diez, and 9:20 is las nueve y veinte. English speakers sometimes put the minutes first, as in "quince y cuatro." The hour always comes first in Spanish.

Media is feminine because it describes la hora, so it is y media, not y medio. Say it with confidence: Es la una y media (It is one thirty). Remember: one o’clock stays singular, even with minutes added: es la una y cuarto.

Diego’s abuelo wants the party at 5:45. He says, "A las seis menos cuarto" (six minus a quarter). Spanish often looks ahead to the next hour and takes minutes away with menos (minus).

Walk through it. 5:45 is fifteen minutes before six. So you say las seis menos cuarto. 8:50 is ten minutes before nine: las nueve menos diez. 12:40 is twenty before one: la una menos veinte, which is singular because of una.

This is the step that trips up English speakers. The hour you say is the next one, not the current one. If you hear las tres menos cinco, the clock shows 2:55, not 3:05. Always find the next hour first.

Many people, especially in Mexico and the United States, also say the minutes after the hour: las cinco y cuarenta y cinco. Both ways are correct. Learn to hear menos, because you will meet it often.

Spanish speakers often skip a.m. and p.m. Instead, they add a phrase: de la mañana (in the morning), de la tarde (in the afternoon) and de la noche (at night). So 7:00 a.m. is las siete de la mañana, and 7:00 p.m. is las siete de la noche.

Where does afternoon end and night begin? It depends on daylight and habit, not a fixed rule. In many places, la tarde lasts until it gets dark. Use de la tarde for times like 3:00 or 5:00 p.m. and de la noche for 9:00 or 10:00 p.m.

Many schedules, bus signs and TV guides use a 24-hour clock. There, 18:00 is six in the evening and 21:30 is nine thirty at night. Subtract twelve to get the familiar hour. So 15:00 is las tres de la tarde.

To ask when something happens, use ¿A qué hora…? (At what time…?). "¿A qué hora es la clase?" Answer with a: "A las nueve de la mañana." A common mistake is dropping that a, but it is needed both in the question and in the answer.

A Spanish calendar usually starts the week on Monday. The days are lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday), sábado (Saturday) and domingo (Sunday). Notice the accents on miércoles and sábado.

Spanish writes the days in lowercase: lunes, not Lunes. English speakers capitalize by habit. In Spanish, a day only gets a capital letter at the start of a sentence. So write: El lunes tengo clase.

To say on Monday, use el and no extra word: "Tengo examen el lunes" (I have a test on Monday). English says on, so learners write "en el lunes," but that is wrong. For every Monday, use los: "Tengo fútbol los lunes" (I have soccer on Mondays).

The days from lunes to viernes do not add -s in the plural: el martes, los martes. Sábado and domingo do: los sábados, los domingos. To ask what day it is, say "¿Qué día es hoy?" Answer: "Hoy es jueves."

Many months are close to English, which helps. Enero (January), febrero (February), marzo (March), abril (April), mayo (May) and junio (June). Then julio (July), agosto (August), septiembre (September), octubre (October), noviembre (November) and diciembre (December).

Like days, months are lowercase: el cumpleaños de Lucía es en octubre. Say en with a month: en julio (in July). English speakers usually get this part right, because English also says in July.

Watch a few sounds. Junio and julio are easy to mix up. The j in Spanish sounds like a strong English h. Agosto has no u, unlike August. You will also see setiembre, a spelling some countries use for September.

To ask what month it is, say "¿En qué mes estamos?" (What month are we in?) Answer: "Estamos en mayo." To say in what month something happens, use en: "Las clases empiezan en agosto" (Classes start in August). Months take en, but specific dates take el.

Remember Diego’s scare? His cousin wrote 12/10 for October twelfth. In Spanish, dates go day, then month, then year. So el doce de octubre is written 12/10, not 10/12. In the United States, the month usually comes first instead.

Say a date with el, the number, de and the month: el cuatro de julio (the fourth of July), el veinticinco de diciembre (December 25). Add the year with another de: el dos de mayo de dos mil veintiséis.

Spanish uses plain numbers for dates, not "fourth" or "twenty-fifth." The big exception is the first of the month. Many speakers, especially in Latin America, say el primero de enero (the first of January). In Spain, el uno de enero is common too.

To ask the date, say "¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?" (What is today’s date?) or "¿Qué fecha es hoy?" Answer: "Hoy es el diez de marzo." Remember to put el before the number and de before the month.

Your class is making a birthday calendar. The teacher asks, "¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?" (When is your birthday?) You answer, "Mi cumpleaños es el nueve de abril" (My birthday is April ninth).

Look inside the word cumpleaños. It is cumple (completes) plus años (years): the day you complete another year. It ends in -s, but it is singular: el cumpleaños, mi cumpleaños. Many people shorten it to el cumple.

To wish someone happy birthday, say "¡Feliz cumpleaños!" Many families sing "Las mañanitas," a traditional Mexican birthday song, sometimes early in the morning. Other countries have their own songs, so ask your classmates what they sing.

In many Latin American families, a girl’s fifteenth birthday is a big celebration called la quinceañera or los quince. It often includes a special dress, a dance and family from near and far.

In early November, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen is known for its Día de los Muertos exhibit. Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated on el primero y el dos de noviembre (November 1 and 2). Families remember relatives who have died.

Many families build an ofrenda (an offering, a home altar). It may hold photos, candles, favorite foods and bright orange cempasúchil (marigold) flowers. The mood is loving and colorful, not scary. It is not the same holiday as Halloween.

This tradition is strongest in Mexico and among Mexican American families, and it is practiced in different ways by region. Not every Spanish-speaking country celebrates it the same way. Ask before you assume.

Notice the date words. Noviembre is lowercase, and the first day is el primero. Pan de muerto (bread of the dead) is a sweet bread many people eat during these days. The foods on an ofrenda are often the favorites of the person being remembered.

Every September, many Mexican families in Chicago celebrate el Día de la Independencia (Independence Day). Mexico’s Independence Day is el dieciséis de septiembre (September 16). It remembers the start of the fight for independence from Spain in 1810: mil ochocientos diez.

Many celebrations begin on the night of September 15 with el Grito (the Cry), a shout of "¡Viva México!" Families gather with music, flags and food. Notice that the date words follow the same pattern: el quince de septiembre, el dieciséis de septiembre.

Mexico’s day is not the only one. Several Central American countries also celebrate independence in mid-September. Each country has its own date, flag and customs, so ask a classmate about theirs.

A common mistake is calling September 16 "Mexican Fourth of July" or mixing it up with Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo (May 5) remembers a battle in 1862. It is not Mexico’s Independence Day.