Los NúmerosNumbers

Spanish Numbers

© Marie-Claire Hunter, 2013 www.learnenglishspanishonline.com

How to pronounce the Spanish numbers

Go to the link below to hear how to pronounce the Spanish numbers

Los números con audio http://www.helloworld.com.es/english/LearnSpanish/LearnSpanishNumbers.htm

The number one - El número uno

The number one can appear as 'uno', 'una' or simply 'un'.

Use 'uno' when counting - one, two, three ..... etc

Use "un" before a masculine noun.

un libro = one book

un gato = one cat (male)

un hombre = one man

Use "una" before a feminine noun.

una chica = one girl

una perra = one dog (female)

0 - 10

1. uno (OO-noh)

2. dos (dohs)

3. tres (trehs)

4. cuatro (KWAH-troh)

5. cinco (SYN-coh)

6. seis (says)

7. siete (SYEH-teh)

8. ocho (OH-choh)

9. nueve NWEH-beh)

10. diez (dee-ehs)

Listen to the Spanish numbers 1-10 here.http://www.spanish.bz/mp3s/numbers.mp3

0. cero

11 -15

11. once (OHN-seh)

12. doce (DOH-seh)

13. trece (TREH-seh)

14. catorce (kah-TOHR-seh)

15. quince (KEEN-seh)

Go to this link to hear the audio http://www.spanish.bz/mp3s/numbers11-20.mp3

16 -19Spanish numbers 16 through to 19 are actually

contractions

Eg. dieciséis - literally means ten and six, but the numbers are joined together, as shown below:

16. dieciséis (dee-ess-ee-SAYS) (diez y seis)17. diecisiete (dyeh-see-SYEH-teh) (diez y siete)18. dieciocho (dyeh-see-OH-choh) (diez y ocho)

19. diecinueve (dyeh-see-NWEH-beh) (diez y nueve)

Go to this link to hear the audio http://www.spanish.bz/mp3s/numbers11-20.mp3

20-29 Just like 16-19, Spanish numbers 21 to 29 are also contractions, eg. veintiuno =

veinte y uno, twenty and one, etc

• 20. veinte (BEHN-teh)

• 21. veintiuno (behn-tee-OO-noh)

• 22. veintidós (behn-tee-DHOS)• 23. veintitrés (behn-tee-TRHES)• 24. veinticuatro (behn-tee-KWAH-trho)

• 25. veinticinco (behn-tee-SYN-coh)

• 26. veintiséis (behn-tee-SAYS)

• 27. veintisiete (behn-tee-SYEH-teh)

• 28. veintiocho (behn-tee-OH-choh)

• 29. veintinueve (behn-tee-NWEH-beh)

NB The pronunciation of the Spanish ‘v’ can be slightly different depending on which country you are in but it is often like a cross between the English ‘b’ and ‘v’. Bear in mind that the best way to learn pronunciation is to listen to native speakers and to imitate

them.

Now you try! Count to 20 in Spanish!

1. uno (OO-noh)

2. dos (dohs)

3. tres (trehs)

4. cuatro (KWAH-troh)

5. cinco (SYN-coh)

6. seis (says)

7. siete (SYEH-teh)

8. ocho (OH-choh)

9. nueve NWEH-beh)

10. diez (dee-ehs)

11. once (OHN-seh)

12. doce (DOH-seh)

13. trece (TREH-seh)

14. catorce (kah-TOHR-seh)

15. quince (KEEN-seh)

16. dieciséis (dee-ess-ee-SAYS)

17. diecisiete (dyeh-see-SYEH-teh)

18. dieciocho (dyeh-see-OH-choh)

19. diecinueve (dyeh-see-NWEH-beh)

20. veinte (BEHN-teh)

Now, remembering that you contract the tens and ones in numbers from 16-29 how would you

say and write these numbers?

sixteennineteentwenty-onetwenty-fivetwenty-nine

How did you do?

sixteen = dieciséis (dee-ess-ee-SAYS)nineteen = diecinueve (dyeh-see-NWEH-

beh)twenty-one = ventiuno (behn-tee-OO-noh)twenty-five = veinticinco (behn-tee-SYN-coh)twenty-nine = veintinueve (behn-tee-NWEH-

beh)

30 - 39From now on rather than contracting the numbers you just have to put the letter

‘y’ between them: treinta y uno, ... y dos, ... y tres etc, but remember when they’re pronounced the sounds still run together.

30. treinta (TREHN-tah)

31. treinta y uno (TREHN-tah-ee-dohs)

32. treinta y dos33. treinta y tres34. treinta y cuatro35. treinta y cinco36. treinta y seis37. treinta y siete38. treinta y ocho39 treinta y nueve

40 -5040. cuarenta (KWAH-rhen-tah)

41. cuarenta y uno (KWAH-rhen-tah ee-oo-noh)

42. cuarenta y dos43. cuarenta y tres44. cuarenta y cuatro45. cuarenta y cinco46. cuarenta y seis47. cuanrenta y siete48. cuarenta y ocho49. cuarenta y nueve50. cincuenta

......this pattern continues all the way up to 99

So remember, after 29 we don’t contract tens and ones, so how would you write the following numbers?

thirty threethirty seven

forty sixforty eightfifty one

seventy five

How did you do?

thirty three treinta y tresthirty seven treinta y sieteforty six cuarenta y seisforty eight cuarenta y ochofifty one cincuenta y unoseventy five setenta y cinco

Spanish numbers 10 – 90 in tens

10. diez (dee-ehs)

20. veinte (BEHN-teh

30. treinta (TREHN-tah)

40. cuarenta (kwah-RHEN-tah)

50. cincuenta (syn-KWEHN-tah)

60. sesenta (seh-SEHN-tah)

70. setenta (seh-TEHN-tah)

80. ochenta (oh-CHEN-tah)

90. noventa (noh-BEHN-tah)

Go to this link to hear the audio http://www.spanish.bz/mp3s/numbers2.mp3

100

Use ‘cien’ for exactly ‘100’ before masculine singular nouns but use ‘ciento’ if it’s one hundred and something. Eg. Cien libros. 100 books.

Cien perros. 100 dogs. but Ciento tres perros. 103 dogs.

Unlike English you don’t need to put the number ‘one’ or the word ‘a’ before ‘thousand’, just the word ‘mil’

does the trick.

mil = one thousand, 1000

NOT ‘UN MIL’

And with multiple thousands you give the number and then just the singular ‘mil’

dos mil = two thousand, 2000tres mil = three thousand, 3000

dos mil doscientos veintidós = 2,222

And for years …1914 = mil novecientos catorce (not diecinueve catorce)

2014 = dos mil catorce

So when you want to say ‘one hundred thousand’

you say ‘cien mil’ not ‘ciento mil’.

eg. Cien mil personas. One hundred thousand people. (100,000 people)

Remember: mil (one thousand) is a masculine noun

Multiple hundreds

Multiple ‘hundreds’ are written as just one word.

eg. ochocientos = 800, novecientos noventa y nueve = 999

There are three forms that have slight irregularities: 500 is quinientos, (kin-ee-ehn-tos), 700 is setecientos (seht-eh-

see-ehn-tos) and 900 is novecientos (noh-beh-see-ehn-tos).

Masculine & feminine hundreds

When describing nouns in their hundreds there is both a masculine and feminine form of ciento.

Doscientos chicos.Trescientas chicas.

When not to use ‘y’ (and)

Only use ‘y’ (and) between the tens and ones for the numbers 31-99 and then 131-199, 231-299 etc.

32 = Treinta y dos93 = Noventa y tres

but remember – no ‘y’ for the following although you would say ‘and’ in English.

110 (one hundred ‘and’ ten) = ciento diez2014 (two thousand ‘and’ fourteen) = dos mil catorce

NB: you can’t say ‘veinte catorce’ (twenty fourteen)

So let’s practice, write the following numbers in Spanish

95

104

1926

2014

500

200

Hopefully you wrote …

95 = noventa y cinco104 = ciento cuatro1926 = mil novecientos veintiseís

2014 = dos mil catorce500 = quinientos (kin-ee-entos)

200 = doscientos

A little note on telephone numbers

The most common way to dictate a telephone number in Spanish seems to be

by grouping the numbers into pairs.

894-674 = (89) ochenta y nueve, (46) cuarenta y seis, (74) setenta y cuatro

What happens with the zeros?

If you come across a zero (cero) you can decide how to break the rest of the numbers up:

0684723 eg. cero seis, ochenta y cuatro, setenta y dos, tresor cero, sesenta y ocho, cuarenta y siete, veintitrés

Whole hundreds are possible eg. for numbers that start with 0800 etc but that’s about as big as they should get.

0800-024-365 = cero, ochocientos - cero, veinticuatro - trescientos sesenta y cinco.

NB: Individual taste and regional preference means that there will of course be other options

So how would you say these telephone numbers out loud?

8470140212947888186032080023987

Don’t worry, there are no real rules, this is just for practice!

Did you say?

847014 = ochenta y cuatro, setenta, catorce021294788 = cero dos, doce, noventa y cuatro, setenta y ocho, ocho

8186032 = ochenta y uno, ochenta y seis, cero, treinta y dos080023987 = cero, ochenta, cero, veintitres, noventa y ocho, siete

NB As we said there are no hard and fast rules but hopefully you’ve got the idea.

Where would you rather be a billionaire?

1,000,000 = un millón (and yes you do need the ‘un’ this time, unlike a thousand which is just ‘mil’)

1,000,000,000 = mil millones for 1,000,000,000 Then things get a bit tricky as the Spanish traditionally follows the British English for billions and trillions.

1,000,000,000,000 = un billón (equal to a billion in British English but a trillion in U.S. English)

1,000,000,000,000,000 = un trillón(equal to a British English trillion but much more than a U.S. English trillion)

PluralsAlthough ‘mil’ stays in the singular form no matter how many there are (un mil, dos mil etc) ‘millón’ and

‘billón’ become plural and drop their accents.

Un millón.Dos millones.

Un billón.Tres billones.

Eg. ‘La pobreza grave ya afecta a tres millones de personas en España.

(Note the use of the preposition ‘de’ that is needed with millón and billón unless followed by another number, eg. ‘La pobreza grave ya afecta a un millón trescientos habitantes.)

So now that you’ve covered so much information about Spanish numbers would you like to see how much has sunk in?– have a go at translating these numbers to Spanish.

100101102103110199200201202203251252272

3003684005006007008009001.0001.2412.0003.0003.3331.000.0001.000.000.000

Here are your answers!100. cien101. ciento uno102. ciento dos103. ciento tres110. ciento diez199. ciento noventa y nueve200. doscientos201. doscientos uno202. doscientos dos203. doscientos tres251. doscientos cincuenta y uno252. doscientos cincuenta y dos272. doscientos sesenta y dos

300. trescientos368. trescientos sesenta y ocho400. cuatrocientos500. quinientos600. seiscientos700. setecientos800. ochocientos900. novecientos1.000. mil1.241. mil doscientos cuarenta y uno2.000. dos mil3.000. tres mil3.333. tres mil trescientos treinta y tres1.000.000. un millón1.000.000.000. mil millones (1 billion in English)

Now for some fun!I’m sure you did well but as they say, ‘practice makes perfect’ so when

you have time why not play this great number listening game thanks to ‘Spanishspanish.com’

They’ll say a number and you type it to see if you understood, it’s a great way to practice listening as well.

http://www.spanishspanish.com/numbers/numbers_practice100.html© Marie-Claire Hunter, 201 www.learnenglishspanishonline.com

Well done!You should now have all the basic information about numbers so you can

move on to the next topic.

But, if you would like to know a bit more about number punctuation, ordinal numbers (first, second, third etc) as well as saying dates in Spanish

you may be interested in the following supplementary information.

Commas and decimal points

Some Spanish speaking countries use the decimal point and the comma in basically the opposite way

to the English system

Eg 982,343,678.99 would be 982.343.678,99and 10.5 would be 10,5 (said: diez coma cinco)

* NB This appears to be the standard for Spain, South America and parts of Central America while Mexico, Puerto Rico and yet other parts of Central America are more likely to use the same format as the English system. In some places thousands are just separated by a space

instead of using a comma or a decimal point eg. 2 342.

Ordinal numbers show the order of nouns

Eg. The first day of the month. El primer día del mes.

First: primero Second: segundo Third: tercero Fourth: cuartoFifth: quinto Sixth: sextoSeventh: séptimo, sétimo Eighth: octavoNinth: novenoTenth: décimoEleventh: undécimo or decimoprimero* Twelfth: duodécimo decimosegundo*Thirteenth: decimotercero Fourteenth: decimocuartoFifteenth: decimoquinto 100th: centésimo

* two newer forms also accepted by RAE

NB: When primero and tercero precede a singular masculine noun, the final -o is dropped, eg. el primer día (the first day), el tercer niño (the third boy)

Also ... for larger numbers, it is common to use simply the cardinal number, especially in speech, eg: el siglo veinte

Ordinal Numbers and Gender

Ordinal numbers must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) with the nouns they modify.

And remember that ‘primero’ and ‘tercero’ drop the ‘o’ on the end when they come before a masculine

singular noun.

el tercer día (the third day)la tercera vez (the third time)

Some useful sayings …La Primera Guerra Mundial = WW1La Segunda Guerra Mundial = WW2

al alba = at first lightprimeros auxilios = first aid

primogénito = first bornprimera, primera clase = 1st class

primero(a) hermano(a) =first cousinestreno = first night (ie. premiere)primera infancia = early childhood

primera plana = front pageprimer plano = close up, foreground

segundo plano = backgroundpor énesima vez = for the umpteenth time

la planta baja = the first floor

Ordinal Number Abbreviations

Primero = 1ro. or 1º Primera = 1ra. or 1ª

Segundo = 2do. or 2º or the feminine forms … Segunda = 2da. or 2ª

Tercero = 3ro. or 3º Tercera = 3ra o 3ª

Dates

In Spanish, dates are expressed in this order: day, month, year.

What’s the date (today)? ¿Cuál es la fecha? ¿A cuánto estamos hoy? It’s the 11th of November.

Es el once de noviembre.Estamos a once de noviembre (de dos mil catorce).Hoy es el once de noviembre de dos mil catorce).

(Note that months of the year are not capitalised and don’t forget, the date always precedes the month, the eleventh of November, not November eleven.)

Dates and Ordinal Numbers

Spanish speakers usually use the ordinal number ‘el primero’ for the first of a month but just a cardinal number for

the other days of the month.

Es el primero de abril. (Hoy) es el 1o de abril.

but

It's July 4th. Es el 4 (cuatro) de julio.

First two, first three etc

If both cardinal and ordinal numbers appear together, the cardinal number goes first.

Me encantaban los dos primeros capítulos. (I loved the first two chapters.)

Estuve enferma los tres primeros días. (I was sick the first three days.)

Fractions = Las fracciones

½ = medio1/3 = un tercio

2/3 = dos tercios

From ¼ to 1/10 use the ordinal numbers

¼ = un cuarto¾ tres cuartos

1/10 = un décimo

From then on add ‘avo’ to the cardinal number

1/11 = un onceavo1/12 = un doceavo

1/20 = un veinteavo1/32 = un treintaidosavo

How to say big fractions

Just like in English there are a couple of other options for how to say the bigger fractions.

10/647 for example could be ten over …, ten divided by… etc.

Diez sobre seiscientos cuarenta y siete.

Diez partido/dividido por seiscientos cuarenta y siete.

Fractions for recipes

Note that all fractions are masculine nounsand that *where you place the fraction can be optional

2 ½ teaspoons = dos y un cuarto cucharaditas3 2/3 cups = *tres tazas y dos tercios

1 ¼ cups of milk = una taza y un cuarto de leche2 1/3 cups of flour = dos tazas y un tercio de harina

half a cup of egg whites = una media taza de claras de huevo ¼ cup = un cuarto de taza

La ….. parteWhen you want to refer to a fractional part of something you can use the expressions given

below and notice that especially after 1/10th the use of ‘la ….. parte’ along with the feminine ordinal number ending in ‘ava’.

½ la mitad (de)1/3 la tercera parte (de)

¼ la cuarta parte (de)2/3 dos terceras partes (de)¾ tres cuartas partes (de)

4/5 cuatro quintas partes (de)1/6 la sexta parte (de)

1/7 la séptima parte (de)1/8 la octava parte (de)1/9 la novena parte (de)

1/10 la décima parte (de)1/15 la doceava parte (de)1/15 la quiceava parte (de)1/20 la venteava parte (de)1/30 la treintava parte (de)

Half – Medio or Mitad?

Let’s start with ‘mitad’ which is always a noun.Use ‘mitad’ when referring to a single object

OR various objects that make up a whole.

‘La mitad’ (de) = half (of) it, them, something

Cada segundo se crea un blog nuevo, pero solo la mitad permanecen activos. A new blog is made every second, but only half remain active.

¡Cartuchos de impresora a mitad de precio! Printer cartridges at half price!

la mitad de mis amigos = half of my friends

dame la mitad = give me half (of something

Now for ‘medio’

Medio can be an adjective or adverb when referring to quantity.

Use ‘medio’ to refer to a single object or something that can be perceived as a unit.

When used as an adjective it must agree with the noun that it is describing.

Es medio caballo, media mujer. It’s half horse, half woman.

La casa ocupa una media manzana. The house takes up half a block.

More on medio/a

Sometimes the noun can be omitted.

Eg. Una hora y media. (not ‘una hora y una media hora)

Pon una cuchara y media de azúcar. (Add a spoonful and a half of sugar.)

When used as an adverb ‘medio’ doesn’t change to agree with the adjective.

Ella es medio loca. She’s half crazy. Siempre la veo medio borracha. I always see her half-drunk.

La tarea está medio hecha. The homework’s half done.

‘A medias’ is a set phrase that can work as an adjective or as an adverb meaning ‘half done’, ‘half-way through’ etc or basically ‘incomplete.

Eg. La fabricación del pedido está a medias. We’re half way through completing your order.

So how would you say …

1/3the second floorthe first floorthe twentieth floor21/4037/30She only ate a third of her sandwich.1/20 for entertainment.1/6 for clothing.

1/5 for food.½ cup of milk

Did you say?

1/3 = un terciothe second floor = el segundo pisothe first floor = la planta bajathe twentieth floor = el piso veinte21/40 = veintiún cuarentavos37/30 = treinta y siete treintavosShe only ate a third of her sandwich.= Ella solo se comió un tercio de su sándwiche. or Ella solo se comío una tercera parte de su sándwiche.1/6 for clothing. = Un sexto para ropa.1/20 for entertainment. = un veinteavo (or la veinteava parte) para diversiones.1/5 for food = 1/5 para comestibles½ cup of milk = una media taza de leche

If you’d like some more practice, try translating these phrases …

See you in a quarter of an hour.We’re leaving in half an hour.

Give me half a kilo.Give me half a pound.

He lost a third of his weight.Save one third of the mix for a sauce.

One inch is a twelfth of a foot. One twelfth.

There was a 15% surcharge.The price was reduced by half.

A quarter of the water is wasted.A thousandth of a second.

These examples were found online here: http://tinyurl.com/ozgluhm

How did you go?See you in a quarter of an hour. Nos vemos dentro de un cuarto de hora.

We’re leaving in half an hour. Salimos en media hora.Give me half a kilo. Deme medio kilo.

Give me half a pound. Deme media libra.He lost a third of his weight. Bajó de un tercio de su peso.

Save one third of the mix for a sauce. Reserva de una tercera parte de la mezcla para la salsa.

One inch is a twelfth of a foot. Una pulgada es la doceava parte de un pie.Two fifths. Dos quintas partes.

One twelfth. Una doceava parte.There was a 15% surcharge. Había un recargo del quince por ciento.

The price was reduced by half. El precio se redujó de la mitad.A quarter of the water is wasted. Se desperdicia un cuarto del agua.

A thousandth of a second. Un milésima de segundo.

If you get stuck …

Try this nifty website, you type in your number and it gets translated for you.

Just don’t put decimal points as they seem to make it a little confused.

http://www.numeros-escritos.com.ar

The End

© Marie-Claire Hunter, 201 www.learnenglishspanishonline.com

Congratulations, we’ve covered a lot of material here and you’re not expected to remember it all but feel free to bookmark this lesson for using

as a reference tool.

All the best with using ‘los números’!