How to Say "Ten Forty" in Spanish

diez y cuarenta

/djeθ i kwaɾenta/from spelling rules

In Spanish, ten forty is said as diez y cuarenta.

This phrase is used to state the time, either meaning ten minutes after four or ten hours and forty minutes.

Is it said differently in some regions?

In some Latin American countries, Diez cuarenta might be preferred over Son las diez y cuarenta.

When used to indicate a specific time of day, the phrase is preceded by the feminine plural article las, as seen in las diez y cuarenta.

/djeθ i kwaɾenta/

Even though diez y cuarenta is precise, a native speaker is much more likely to say veinte para las once, which means 'twenty to eleven'.
In some Spanish-speaking cultures, telling someone diez y cuarenta might be seen as overly formal or precise, as people often round to the nearest five or ten minutes in casual conversation.
The term cuarenta finds its roots in the Latin 'quadrāgintā', which literally translates to the concept of 'four-tens'.

Tom suele irse a la cama a las diez y cuarenta.
Tom usually goes to bed at ten-forty.
This sentence shows how to use diez y cuarenta to describe a time someone goes to bed.
Tatoeba #922579 by Shishir, translation #37024 by CK
Son las diez y cuarenta de la mañana.
It is ten forty in the morning.
Son las diez y cuarenta de la noche.
It is ten forty at night.
El tren sale a las diez y cuarenta.
The train leaves at ten forty.
Son las diez y cuarenta ahora mismo.
It is ten forty right now.

Sofía and Alejandro are checking the schedule at a station.

Sources

IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries cuarenta, diez, y, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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