Today we’ll be talking about cardinal numbers in Spanish. It’s a pretty basic topic, but I still think you may find something new when the numbers start getting larger.
Anyway, what are cardinal numbers? These are just the numbers you use to say how many items there are. Examples in English include SEVEN, THREE MILLION or NINETY-FOUR.
Small Numbers
OK, first the ABC, or rather the 1, 2, 3. Let’s have a look at the numbers from 0 to 10:
| 0 | cero | ||
| 1 | uno | 6 | seis |
| 2 | dos | 7 | siete |
| 3 | tres | 8 | ocho |
| 4 | cuatro | 9 | nueve |
| 5 | cinco | 10 | diez |
The Number ONE
Notice that we use uno when we count but before nouns we use another form, which looks just like the indefinite article:
| uno, dos, tres | one, two, three |
| un perro (m) | one dog |
| una chica (f) | one girl |
| un lago (m) | one lake |
The Numbers 11-20
And now the teens:
| 11 | once | 16 | dieciséis |
| 12 | doce | 17 | diecisiete |
| 13 | trece | 18 | dieciocho |
| 14 | catorce | 19 | diecinueve |
| 15 | quince | 20 | veinte |
Here’s an example:
| Hay quince alumnos en la clase. | There are fifteen students in the class. |
| Doce de los alumnos son chicas. | Twelve of them are girls. |
| Catorce alumnos no usan gafas. | Fourteen students don’t wear glasses. |
The Numbers 21-30
And numbers between 21 and 30 look like so:
| 21 | veintiuno | 26 | veintiséis |
| 22 | veintidós | 27 | veintisiete |
| 23 | veintitrés | 28 | veintiocho |
| 24 | veinticuatro | 29 | veintinueve |
| 25 | veinticinco | 30 | treinta |
Again, some examples:
| Rosita tiene veinticuatro años. | Rosita is 24 years old. |
| Enrique tiene veintiséis años. | Enrique is 26 years old. |
The Tens
And here are the tens:
| 20 | veinte | 70 | setenta |
| 30 | treinta | 80 | ochenta |
| 40 | cuarenta | 90 | noventa |
| 50 | cincuenta | 100 | cien |
| 60 | sesenta |
Unlike with the twenties, numbers above 30 are written separately: first the tens, then the units:
| 31 | treinta y uno | ||
| 52 | cincuenta y dos | ||
| 33 | treinta y tres | ||
| 56 | cincuenta y seis | ||
| 68 | sesenta y ocho | ||
| 85 | ochenta y cinco |
The Number 100
The number 100 can be used in its full form ciento or in its shorter form cien. The short version is used when it´s used on its own or as a multiplier (one hundred thousand = one hundred times one thousand). In other cases the full form is used:
| 100 | cien |
| 120 | ciento veinte |
| 180,000 | ciento ochenta mil |
| 100,000 | cien mil |
| 100,000,000 | cien millones |
The Hundreds
As far as the hundreds are concerned, there are separate masculine and feminine forms.
| 200 | doscientos, -as | 700 | setecientos, -as |
| 300 | trescientos, -as | 800 | ochocientos, -as |
| 400 | cuatrocientos, -as | 900 | novecientos, -as |
| 500 | quinientos, -as | 1000 | mil |
| 600 | seiscientos, -as |
We use masculine forms before masculine nouns and feminine forms before feminine nouns.
trescientos chicos (masculine gender) y quinientas chicas (feminine gender)
300 guys and 500 girls
And here´s how we combine the hundreds, tens and units:
| 120 | ciento veinte | ||
| 236 | doscientos treinta y seis | ||
| 451 | cuatrocientos cincuenta y uno | ||
| 785 | setecientos ochenta y cinco | ||
| 522 | quinientos veintidós | ||
| 1647 | mil seiscientos cuarenta y siete |
Large Numbers
Now let´s take some bigger numbers. Here are their names:
| 1000 | mil | ||
| 2000 | dos mil | ||
| 100,000 | cien mil | ||
| 1,000,000 | un millón | ||
| 5,000,000 | cinco millones | ||
| 1,000,000,000 | mil millones | ||
| 3,000,000,000 | tres mil millones |
These are the basics as far as cardinal numbers in Spanish are concerned.
INFO
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