Numbers in Spanish

Counting in Spanish: Cardinal Numbers

The cardinal number system in Spanish is really quite simple. Let's take a look at the numbers 1 to 100 in Spanish to see this in action.

1 - 100

0	cero	30	treinta	60	sesenta	90	noventa
1	uno	31	treinta y uno	61	sesenta y uno	91	noventa y uno
2	dos	32	treinta y dos	62	sesenta y dos	92	noventa y dos
3	tres	33	treinta y tres	63	sesenta y tres	93	noventa y tres
4	cuatro	34	treinta y cuatro	64	sesenta y cuatro	94	noventa y cuatro
5	cinco	35	treinta y cinco	65	sesenta y cinco	95	noventa y cinco
6	seis	36	treinta y seis	66	sesenta y seis	96	noventa y seis
7	siete	37	treinta y siete	67	sesenta y siete	97	noventa y siete
8	ocho	38	treinta y ocho	68	sesenta y ocho	98	noventa y ocho
9	nueve	39	treinta y nueve	69	sesenta y nueve	99	noventa y nueve
10	diez	40	cuarenta	70	setenta	100	cien
11	once	41	cuarenta y uno	71	setenta y uno
12	doce	42	cuarenta y dos	72	setenta y dos
13	trece	43	cuarenta y tres	73	setenta y tres
14	catorce	44	cuarenta y cuatro	74	setenta y cuatro
15	quince	45	cuarenta y cinco	75	setenta y cinco
16	dieciséis	46	cuarenta y seis	76	setenta y seis
17	diecisiete	47	cuarenta y siete	77	setenta y siete
18	dieciocho	48	cuarenta y ocho	78	setenta y ocho
19	diecinueve	49	cuarenta y nueve	79	setenta y nueve
20	veinte	50	cincuenta	80	ochenta
21	veintiuno	51	cincuenta y uno	81	ochenta y uno
22	veintidós	52	cincuenta y dos	82	ochenta y dos
23	veintitrés	53	cincuenta y tres	83	ochenta y tres
24	veinticuatro	54	cincuenta y cuatro	84	ochenta y cuatro
25	veinticinco	55	cincuenta y cinco	85	ochenta y cinco
26	veintiséis	56	cincuenta y seis	86	ochenta y seis
27	veintisiete	57	cincuenta y siete	87	ochenta y siete
28	veintiocho	58	cincuenta y ocho	88	ochenta y ocho
29	veintinueve	59	cincuenta y nueve	89	ochenta y nueve

If you are worried about having to memorize all those numbers, look closer and you will start noticing some patterns:

• Numbers 16 to 19 are formed by adding the corresponding number (6 to 9) to the prefix dieci-.
• Numbers 21 to 29 are formed by adding the corresponding number (1 to 9) to the prefix veinti- (notice how spelling rules dictate that veintidós, veintitrés and veintiséis have an accent mark).
• Numbers 30 to 99 are really simple: just pair a multiple of ten (like 30, 40, 50, etc.) with the conjunction "y" and a number from 1 to 9. For instance, a number like 87 is said ochenta y siete, literally, eighty and seven.

101 - 999

So, what if you are looking for a three-digit number? Those are also very simple. First, you'll have to learn how to call multiples of 100:

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

To read the numbers in between multiples of 100, just read the multiple of 100 and then the two-digit number that follows it. When doing this, keep in mind that the number 100 (cien) will change to ciento. Here are some examples:

102	ciento dos
378	trescientos setenta y ocho
505	quinientos cinco
722	setecientos veintidós
999	novecientos noventa y nueve

Thousands and Millions

Let's get to even bigger figures. Just like in English, numbers in Spanish are read from left to right. This means that if a number has 9 digits, you will first read the millions, then the thousands and finally the hundreds. Let's look at some examples and vocabulary to illustrate this:

1000	mil
2000	dos mil
3300	tres mil trescientos
10 000	diez mil
20 035	veinte mil treinta y cinco
36 000	treinta y seis mil
100 000	cien mil
369 000	trescientos sesenta y nueve mil
987 654	novecientos ochenta y siete mil seiscientos cincuenta y cuatro
1 000 000	un millón
2 000 000	dos millones
3 040 050	tres millones cuarenta mil cincuenta
1 000 000 000	mil millones
23 000 000 000	veintitrés mil millones
1 000 000 000 000	un billón
2 000 000 000 000	dos billones

Notice how the Spanish word "billón" sounds like "billion", but is actually a different number – trillion – in English. A billion in English is mil millones in Spanish.

Finally, keep in mind that cardinal numbers can function as both adjectives and nouns. When acting as an adjective, the number uno (one) changes to un, when describing a masculine noun, and una when describing a feminine noun. You can see this in the following examples:

• Noun:
  El uno es un número impar (one is an odd number).
• Masculine adjective:
  Tengo un hermano (I have one brother).
• Feminine adjective:
  Tengo una hermana (I have one sister).

This also applies to all numbers ending in "uno" (like veintiuno, treinta y uno, cuarenta y uno, etc.).

Numbers ending in "-cientos" also change according to the gender of the noun they modify:

• Doscientos edificios (two-hundred buildings).
• Doscientas casas (two-hundred houses).

Putting Things in Order: Ordinal Numbers

While cardinal numbers are used for things like counting or reading out telephone numbers, ordinal numbers in Spanish, just like in English, are used to indicate the position of something in a series.

You can find the most used ordinal numbers in Spanish in the following table:

1st	Primero	11th	Onceavo
2nd	Segundo	12th	Doceavo
3rd	Tercero	13th	Decimotercero
4th	Cuarto	14th	Decimocuarto
5th	Quinto	15th	Decimoquinto
6th	Sexto	16th	Decimosexto
7th	Séptimo	17th	Decimoséptimo
8th	Octavo	18th	Decimoctavo
9th	Noveno	19th	Decimonoveno
10th	Décimo	20th	Vigésimo

When they act as adjectives, all ordinal numbers in Spanish change their ending depending on the gender and number of the noun they describe:

• Segundo puesto (second place)
• Segunda noche (second night)
• Décimos Juegos Olímpicos (tenth Olympic Games)
• Décima Olimpíada (tenth Olympic)

Doing Math in Spanish

Now that you know the proper names for numbers in Spanish, you can move onto some other vocabulary.

Here are the names for basic math operations in Spanish:

• Sumar - To add
• Restar - To subtract
• Multiplicar - To multiply
• Dividir - to divide

Let's take a look at how you read some mathematical expressions in Spanish:

• 2 + 2 = 4 → Dos más dos es (igual a) cuatro.
• 10 - 1 = 9 → Diez menos uno es (igual a) nueve.
• 2 x 3 = 6 → Dos por tres es (igual a) seis.
• 10 / 2 = 5 → Diez dividido dos es (igual a) cinco.
• 30 % → Treinta por ciento.

Numbers in Writing

Although there isn't a definitive rule as to when to write out numbers in Spanish, the general practice is to use the numerical form for numbers greater than 10.

When using the numerical form, you should keep in mind that hundreds and thousands are usually separated by points or blank spaces instead of commas. At the same time, commas are usually reserved for separating decimals, although some countries (namely those closer to the US, like Mexico) use points for decimals.

Now that you know all of this, you can start incorporating Spanish numbers into your everyday life. Try counting in Spanish instead of English and soon it will become second nature!

Worksheets for Spanish Numbers

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