Spanish Numbers: How to Count from 1 – 1,000+ in Spanish

Would you like to know about Spanish numbers, and how to count from 1-100 in Spanish?

In this article I share everything you need to know about Spanish numbers. I cover what the Spanish numbers are, shortcuts for how to learn them, and some bonus stuff like their etymologies.

Spanish Numbers from 0-100

Let's start with the basics. I'll show you the first 100 numbers in Spanish, then I'll break things down and explain some tricks for remembering them.





1
uno
11
once
21
veintiuno
31
treinta y uno
41
cuarenta y uno
51
cincuenta y uno
61
sesenta y uno
71
setenta y uno
81
ochenta y uno
91
noventa y uno


2
dos
12
doce
22
veintidós
32
treinta y dos
42
cuarenta y dos
52
cincuenta y dos
62
sesenta y dos
72
setenta y dos
82
ochenta y dos
92
noventa y dos


3
tres
13
trece
23
veintitrés
33
treinta y tres
43
cuarenta y tres
53
cincuenta y tres
63
sesenta y tres
73
setenta y tres
83
ochenta y tres
93
noventa y tres


4
cuatro
14
catorce
24
veinticuatro
34
treinta y cuatro
44
cuarenta y cuatro
54
cincuenta y cuatro
64
sesenta y cuatro
74
setenta y cuatro
84
ochenta y cuatro
94
noventa y cuatro


5
cinco
15
quince
25
veinticinco
35
treinta y cinco
45
cuarenta y cinco
55
cincuenta y cinco
65
sesenta y cinco
75
setenta y cinco
85
ochenta y cinco
95
noventa y cinco


6
seis
16
dieciseis
26
veintiseis
36
treinta y seis
46
cuarenta y seis
56
cincuenta y seis
66
sesenta y seis
76
setenta y seis
86
ochenta y seis
96
noventa y seis


7
siete
17
diecisiete
27
veintisiete
37
treinta y siete
47
cuarenta y siete
57
cincuenta y siete
67
sesenta y siete
77
setenta y siete
87
ochenta y siete
97
noventa y siete


8
ocho
18
dieciocho
28
veintiocho
38
treinta y ocho
48
cuarenta y ocho
58
cincuenta y ocho
68
sesenta y ocho
78
setenta y ocho
88
ochenta y ocho
98
noventa y ocho


9
nueve
19
diecinueve
29
veintinueve
39
treinta y nueve
49
cuarenta y nueve
59
cincuenta y nueve
69
sesenta y nueve
79
setenta y nueve
89
ochenta y nueve
99
noventa y nueve


10
diez
20
veinte
30
treinta
40
cuarenta
50
cincuenta
60
sesenta
70
setenta
80
ochenta
90
noventa
100
cien





A lot to take in? Take another look and try to spot the patterns. I recommend you follow these steps to get all the numbers into your head:


Learn the numbers for 1-15. There's no real pattern, you just have to learn them: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince.
Learn the numbers for the multiples of ten: veinte, treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa. A few tips to help you remember:

Other than veinte, they all end in -enta
Other than veinte (again), they all have a clear relationship with the related smaller number: cuatro cuarenta, ocho ochenta, etc.




Once you've memorized the above, you can fill in the gaps with a simple formula:


For numbers from 16-19, take the rightmost digit and say "diez + y + (digit)". E.g. 17 = "diez + y + siete" = "diez y siete", which contracts to diecisiete. This is much like how in English 16 is "six-ten" i.e. "sixteen".
For numbers above twenty, simply take the "tens" number (veinte, treinta, etc.) and the "ones" number (uno, dos, tres, etc.) and stick "y" ("and") in the middle. E.g. 31 = "thirty and one" = treinta y uno. 98 = "ninety and eight" = noventa y ocho.
The only extra thing to be aware of is that numbers from 21-29 get contracted into a single word - so instead of "veinte y cuatro", it's "veinticuatro".


Finally, don’t forget that:


zero = cero (this one should be easy to remember!)
100 = cien (note the link with English words like "century", "centipede", or "percent".)


With these simple steps, you’ll have the numbers 1-100 memorized in no time.

Spanish for “One”: Un, Uno, or Una?

Spanish doesn't distinguish between "one" and "a" in the same way that English does. "Un libro" can mean "a book" or "one book".

When you think about it, those two phrases mean the same thing; the only difference is in emphasis.

However, it's important to note that the word uno changes to match the gender of the noun it describes. Before a feminine noun, it becomes una. Before a masculine noun, you drop the o and just use un.

Some examples:


Un libro - a book/one book. Drop the "o" from "uno" because it's followed by a masculine noun.
Una mesa - a table/one table. Change "uno" to "una" because it's followed by a feminine noun.
Tengo uno - "I have one". "Uno" is unchanged because it's not followed by a noun.
"¿Hay preguntas?" "Solo una." - "Any questions?" "Only one". In this case you use una because you're referring to a pregunta (question), which is a feminine word.


Spanish for 100: Cien or Ciento?

The number 100 can be translated into Spanish as either cien or ciento. What's the difference?

Use "cien" when you have exactly one hundred of something:


Cien personas = one hundred people
Cien libros = one hundred books


Use "ciento" as part of a larger number, e.g. "one hundred and one" is ciento uno.

But how do you form those larger numbers anyway?

Spanish Numbers from 100 to 999

Larger Spanish numbers can be formed according to some simple rules:

For numbers from 100 to 199, use ciento:


101 = ciento uno
129 = ciento veintinueve
195 = ciento noventa y cinco.


(Note that you don't need to add y after ciento - it's ciento uno, not ciento y uno.

For numbers from 200 to 999, you must first learn the multiples of 100. Don’t worry, they’re really straightforward:


200 = doscientos
300 = trescientos
400 = cuatrocientos
500 = quinientos
600 = seiscientos
700 = setecientos
800 = ochocientos
900 = novecientos


These are simple enough - just note that 500 (quinientos), 700 (setecientos) and 900 (novecientos) are slightly irregular.

These eight numbers have masculine and feminine forms, and so must agree with the noun:


setecientas personas = seven hundred people
ochocientos libros = eight hundred books


To fill in the gaps, e.g. between 200 and 300, just follow the same patterns as for 100 (ciento):


201 = doscientos uno
202 = doscientos dos
220 = doscientos veinte
221 = doscientos veintiuno
225 = doscientos veinticinco
238 = doscientos treinta y ocho


Spanish Numbers from 1 Thousand to 1 Million

The only two new words you need to learn are mil (1,000) and un millón (1,000,000).

Note that 1,000 is always mil, never un mil - whereas for un millón, you can't leave out the un.

Forming new numbers with mil and un millón is fairly straightforward, and is best illustrated by example:


1,000 = mil
1,001 = mil uno (not "mil y uno"!)
1,500 = mil quinientos
1,686 = mil seiscientos ochenta y seis
2,001 = dos mil
20,000 = veinte mil
33,000 = treinta y tres mil
100,000 = cien mil
483,382 = cuatrocientos ochenta y tres mil trescientos ochenta y dos
1,000,000 = un millón
3,000,000 = tres millones
6,492,000 = seis millones cuatrocientos noventa y dos mil
8,841,932 = ocho millones ochocientos cuarenta y un mil novecientos treinta y dos (Yikes! What a mouthful.)


Finally, note that when you're using un millón or millones with a noun, you must use de. So, for example, "one million books" is un millón de libros. Literally, you're saying "one million of books*".

Breaking Up Spanish Numbers: Dots or Commas?

In English, it's conventional to break up big numbers with a comma every three digits to aid readability. So instead of writing "1048710123901", we write "1,048,710,123,901".

We also indicate the decimal point with a dot, so "one half" can be written as "0.5".

Be careful! In Spanish-speaking countries - as in many other parts of the world - these conventions are reversed. They use a comma for decimals, and break up large numbers with dots. So my two examples above would be written as "1.048.710.123.901" and "0,5".

(For the sake of consistency, I'm going to stick with the English-like conventions for the rest of this article. But make sure to do things the other way around when writing Spanish.)

Billions and Trillions in Spanish (They’re Not What You Think)

What do you think the Spanish words billón and trillón mean? Did you guess "billion" and "trillion"? Sadly, things aren't that simple.

In the English-speaking world, a "billion" is one thousand millions (1,000,000,000) and a "trillion" is one thousand billions (1,000,000,000,000.) In other words, every "step up" involves multiplying by 1,000.

Not everyone does it like this! Our way is called the "short scale" numbering system, but many countries around the world - including most Spanish-speaking countries - use the "long scale" system.

In this system, a "billion" (or its cognate) is one million millions, and a "trillion" is one million billions. Rather than multiplying by a thousand each time, you multiply by a million.

So Spanish words like billón don't "match up" with their English counterparts like you might expect:


un millón = one million = 1,000,000
un millardo (or "mil millones") = one billion = 1,000,000,000
un billón = one trillion = 1,000,000,000,000
mil billones = one quadrillion = 1,000,000,000,000,000
un trillón = one quintillion = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000


(Note: in the past, American English used the short-scale system while British English used the long-scale system. This is no longer true - all dialects of English now use the short-scale system.)

How to Say "...and a Half" in Spanish

In English, we often abbreviate the names of numbers by saying "... and a half", "... and a third", etc..

So instead of saying "two thousand five hundred", an English speaker might say “two and a half thousand”. Instead of "one million five hundred thousand”, they might say "one and a half million".

I often notice Spanish people getting this wrong when they speak English. They put the "and a half" in the wrong place - instead of saying (for example) "one and a half million", they say "one million and a half". That's because they're translating directly from how they'd say in Spanish - un millón y medio.

Try not to make the opposite mistake when you speak Spanish. Say un millón y medio, not un y medio millón.

Ordinal Numbers in Spanish

So far I’ve only talked about cardinal numbers - one, two, three, etc. It’s also important to learn the ordinal numbers - first, second, third, fourth, etc. Here are the first ten:





English
Español




first
primero


second
segundo


third
tercero


fourth
cuarto


fifth
quinto


sixth
sexto


seventh
séptimo


eighth
octavo


ninth
noveno


tenth
décimo





Ordinal numbers are adjectives that must agree with the noun - although, unlike most Spanish adjectives, they go before the noun, not after:


el segundo libro = the second book
la segunda persona = the second person
los primeros carros = the first cars
las primeras flores = the first flowers


Note that primero and tercero drop the “o” before a singular masculine noun:


el primer día = the first day
el tercer hijo = the third son


To form ordinal numbers above 10, you must first learn the numbers for the multiples of ten:





English
Español




twentieth
vigésimo


thirtieth
trigésimo


fortieth
cuadragésimo


fiftieth
quincuagésimo


sixtieth
sexagésimo


seventieth
septuagésimo


eightieth
octogésimo


ninetieth
nonagésimo





Then fill in the gaps by combining numbers from the above two tables:


22nd = vigésimo segundo
56th = quincuagésimo sexto
81st = octogésimo primero


Just remember that both parts of the number must agree with the noun: “the 22nd person” would be la vigésima segunda persona.

For numbers from “11th” to “19th”, it’s more common to write them as one word than two:


11th = decimoprimero or décimo primero
14th = decimocuarto or décimo cuarto
18th = decimoctavo or décimo octavo (Notice how the “o” at the end of decimo merges with the “o” at the beginning of octavo here, so you don’t write two “o”s)


Finally, note that “11th” and “12th” can alternatively be translated as undécimo and duodécimo.

If this is a lot to take in, don’t worry! Ordinal numbers higher than décimo aren’t actually used very often. They tend to be reserved for formal writing. In everyday speech you’re much more likely to hear the cardinal number:


“The eleventh day” = El undécimo día or el día once
“The 56th person” = la quincuagésima sexta persona or la persona cincuenta y seis


Etymology of Spanish Numbers

Where do Spanish numbers come from, anyway? As you probably know, Spanish is a "Romance language", which means it's descended from Latin.

Compare modern Spanish numbers to ancient Latin - and to other modern Romance languages - and you can easily see the links:





Latin
Spanish
Portuguese
French
Italian
Romanian




Unus
Uno
Um
Un
Uno
Unu


Duo
Dos
Dois
Deux
Due
Doi


Tres
Tres
Três
Trois
Tre
Trei


Quattor
Cuatro
Quatro
Quatre
Quattro
Patru


Quinque
Cinco
Cinco
Cinq
Cinque
Cinci


Sex
Seis
Seis
Six
Sei
Şase


Septem
Siete
Sete
Sept
Sette
Şapte


Octo
Ocho
Oito
Huit
Otto
Opt


Novem
Nueve
Nove
Neuf
Nove
Nouă


Decem
Diez
Dez
Dix
Dieci
Zece





But we can go further back than that! The Romance languages are a sub-family of Indo-European languages - the family that also includes English.

The common ancestor of all Indo-European languages was proto-Indo-European . That name is a modern invention - we don't know what its own speakers called it.

In fact, we know very little with certainty about proto-Indo-European. There are no written records of it; the best we can do is guess what it sounded like by comparing its modern descendants.

Here's one linguist's guess as to what the numbers 1-10 sounded like in proto-Indo-European. Can you see the similarities with both ancient Latin and modern English? (Some are more obvious than others.)


hoinos
duoh
treies
kwetuor
penkwe
sueks
septm
hekteh
hneun
dekmt


Spanish Numbers: How Do You Learn Them?

Here’s a funny story about Spanish numbers:

In 2008 the American football player Chad Johnson legally changed his last name to "Ochocinco". This new moniker was a reference to his jersey number: 85. The problem - as you’ll now know - is that ocho-cinco doesn't mean "eighty-five". The correct Spanish is ochenta y cinco. It's unknown whether Chad was aware of this mistake when he made the name change. (In 2012, he changed his last name back to "Johnson".)

Now you’ve read this article, you’re not going to make a mistake like that.

Do you have any tricks for learning Spanish numbers? What worked for you? Let me know in the comments.

The post Spanish Numbers: How to Count from 1 – 1,000+ in Spanish appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.