Cardinal numbers in Spanish
earning cardinal numbers is a basic step when learning any language, as they are necessary for daily life. We use them from the very beginning, for example, to introduce ourselves and say our age, and for basic things like asking about prices, expressing the date and time, and much more. In this article, we will look at cardinal numbers in Spanish, from 0 to the millions.
0 a 9.
It is very important to memorize these numbers, as they form the foundation for learning the rest. Just like in many languages, they are used to express larger numbers.
10 a 19.
As in many languages, the numbers from 10 to 19 are different from the rest of the tens. We can see them in the table:
As you may have noticed in the table, starting from dieciséis, they are formed with “dieci”, which comes from diez, plus the number that completes them.
The tens.
We will first look at the tens and then see how two-digit numbers, greater than 19, are formed in Spanish.
20.
The tens in the 20s have a particular morphology in Spanish.
Why do some have an accent mark and others don’t? You can read this article to find out.
Starting from 30.
Starting from treinta, numbers are formed by placing the tens, the conjunction “y,” and the unit. No exceptions! Now it gets easier. Let’s look at some examples.
As you may have noticed, the tens, the conjunction, and the unit are written separately. In written language, if we are going to write a number from 0 to 9, we usually use digits, and from 10 onward, we write them in words.
Mi hermanita tiene 7 años, y mi hermana grande tiene trece.
Cien, y ciento.
100 es cien en español, y a partir del 101 usamos la palabra “ciento” más el número que lo complete, siempre siguiendo las mismas reglas que ya hemos visto, y escribiendo ciento por separado de lo que lo sigue. ¡Sin excepciones!
Next, we will look at the hundreds, and then examples of how to form numbers greater than 199. As you will see, the rules are the same.
To form numbers from 200 onward, we simply choose the hundred and add the number that completes it, writing everything separately.
1000 y más.
Again, the rules are the same. 1000 is mil in Spanish, 1100 is mil cien, following the rule that the round 100 is cien, and then we follow the rules we’ve already seen, writing everything separately. Let’s look at some examples.
10.000 y más.
We add the tens before the word mil, writing them separately, and follow the rules we’ve already seen. Here’s an exception with tens that end in uno: the word “uno” becomes “un”, and in the case of “veintiuno”, it becomes “veintiún”. In the case of 11,000, there are no changes. Let’s first look at examples of this.
Let’s see some examples.
In the case of the rest of the tens, we simply follow the rules we’ve already seen.
100.000 y más.
In this case, once again, “cien” becomes “ciento” starting from 101,000. Let’s look at some examples, and “uno” becomes “un,” and “veintiuno” becomes “veintiún,” just like in the previous example. In the rest of the cases, we follow the rules we’ve already seen.
1.000.000 y más.
1,000,000 is un millón. The number of millions is placed before the word millón to indicate how many millones, which is the plural form of millón. That is, un millón, dos millones, cincuenta millones, novecientos mil millones. For what follows, we follow the rules we’ve already seen. 1,000,001 is un millón uno, 1,000,013 is un millón trece, 1,150,000 is un millón ciento cincuenta mil, 2,265,231 is dos millones doscientos sesenta y cinco mil doscientos treinta y uno, 21,564,000 is veintiún millones quinientos sesenta y cuatro mil, 65,982,001 is sesenta y cinco millones novecientos ochenta y dos mil uno, 99,999,999 is noventa y nueve millones novecientos noventa y nueve mil novecientos noventa y nueve.
1.000.000.000.
This number, unlike in other languages, is mil millones. A billón in Spanish is one million million.
I know from personal experience that learning numbers can be boring, and having to use a very large number, and therefore a very long one, can be quite challenging in spoken language. For example, I personally struggle with numbers in French, where you have to do math to say numbers like 81 (quatre vingt et un, which is literally “four twenties and one”), and in German, where the unit comes before the tens in two-digit numbers (2: zwei, 20: zwanzig, 22: zweiundzwanzig, literally “two and twenty”). However, numbers are something basic that we will use for many things in the language we are learning. So, keep it up! Here is a small exercise to practice this very important topic. Thank you for reading!
Leave a Reply