How to Learn Spanish Numbers

Surely you can get as far as un, dos, tres, whether you’ve heard it from Ricky Martin or any other Latin American singer. But how far can you count in Spanish, and can you form ordinal numbers? Learn Spanish numbers and you’ll gain a useful skill that will help you with shopping and ordering, talking about dates and age, telling the time or understanding schedules and idiomatic phrases. Forming numbers is straightforward in Spanish, so let’s get right to it!

How to count in Spanish

There’s no way around it, you have to learn a set of unique number words if you want to count in Spanish. Up to fifteen, each number is a distinct word, with zero being a term of its own, of course. Memorize those and you can apply some basic rules to form a majority of Spanish numbers.

0	zero	cero
1	one	uno
2	two	dos
3	three	tres
4	four	cuatro
5	five	cinco
6	six	seis
7	seven	siete
8	eight	ocho
9	nine	nueve
10	ten	diez
11	eleven	once
12	twelve	doce
13	thirteen	trece
14	fourteen	catorce
15	fifteen	quince

To complete the numbers up to twenty, you form the word out of “diez” for ten, “y” for and, plus the last digit, like “seis” for six. However, notice the spelling:

16	sixteen	dieciséis
17	seventeen	diecisiete
18	eightteen	dieciocho
19	nineteen	diecinueve
20	twenty	veinte

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Count to 100 in Spanish

The joining of words and the spelling with “i” for and continues between 20 and 30. After that, you continue to form the numbers with and, however you spell it as three separate words. Knowing that, it’s straightforward to count to one hundred in Spanish.

21	twenty one	veinte
22	twenty two	veintiuno
23	twenty three	veintidós
24	twenty four	veintitrés
25	twenty five	veinticinco
26	twenty six	veintiseis
27	twenty seven	veintisiete
28	twenty eight	veintiocho
29	twenty nine	veintinueve
30	thirty	treinta
31, 32, (...)	thirty one, thirty two	treinta y tres, treinta y dos
40	fourty	cuarenta
50	fifty	cincuenta
60	sixty	sesenta
70	seventy	setenta
80	eighty	ochente
90	ninety	noventa
100	one hundred	cien

Listen carefully: there is only a difference of one letter between sixty and seventy, or “sesenta” and “setenta”, which can be difficult to spot with native speakers!

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How to learn large numbers in Spanish

For numbers beyond one hundred, you have to remember a new rule: you don’t connect the word for one hundred with “y” for and with the rest of the number. However, the tens and ones are still connected with an “y” as in the table above. For example, one hundred fifty five (155) is “ciento cincuenta y cinco”. Note the epenthesis “o”, which makes the word flow better. The word “cien” for hundred is a count noun, so as soon as you reach two hundred, you have to pluralize it as “doscientos” (the suffix “s” indicated the plural). Up to “mil”, or one thousand, there are only three irregular numbers: 500, 700, and 900:

100	(one) hundred	cien
101, 102, 103 (...)	one hundred one, two, three (...)	ciento uno, dos, trees (...)
175	one hundred seventy five	ciento setenta y cinco
200	two hundred	doscientos
300	three hundred	trescientos
400	four hundred	cuatrocientos
500	five hundred	quinientos (irregular)
600	six hundred	seiscientos
700	seven hundred	setecientos (irregular)
800	eight hundred	ochocientos
900	nine hundred	novecientos (irregular)
1,000	(one) thousand	mil

Even larger numbers can become quite a mouthful to say, but they remain fairly easy to form. As in English, multiples of a thousand just take a digit in front. Likewise, thousand is an uncount noun: it’s “dos mil” for two thousand, not “dos miles”. Yet the word can take a plural, in case you want to say “thousands and thousands”, for example, which is “miles y miles”.

2,000	two thousand	dos mil
3,000, 4,000, 5,000 (...)	one, two, three thousand (...)	uno, dos, tres mil (...)
7,777	seven thousand seven hundred seventy seven	siete mil setecientos setenta y siete
10,000	ten thousand	diez mil
20,000	twenty	veinte mil
100,000	(one) hundred thousand	cien mil
500,000	five hundred thousand	quinientos mil
783,382	seven hundred thousand three hundred eighty two	setecientos mil trescientos ochenta y dos
1,000,000	(one) million	un millón
2,000,000, 3,000,000 (...)	two, three million (...)	dos, tres millones (...)

As you can see in the table above, “millón” (a million) is again a count noun with the plural “millones”. Note that in combination with a noun, you have to use “de” (of) to refer to what you’re counting. So “two million dollars” becomes “dos millones de dolares” (two millions of dollars). Also note that the decimal separator and the thousand delimiter are reversed in Spanish, so you’d write two million as “2.000.000” and “one and a half” as “1.5”.

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Unlike English, which uses the short scale numbering system, Spanish like many languages, uses the long scale system, which means that “billón” or “trillón” don’t match up with the English billion and trillion–these words are false friends!

106	million	un millón
109	billion	un millardo / mil millones
1012	trillion	un billón
1015	quadrillion	mil billones
1018	quintillion	un trillón
1021	sextillion	mil trillones

How to learn ordinal numbers in Spanish

The last challenge is to name the order of things in Spanish. For this we’ll have a look at the ordinal numbers. Again, the first ten you’ll just have to learn by heart.

first	primero
second	segundo
third	tercero
fourth	cuarto
fifth	quinto
sixth	sexto
seventh	séptimo
eighth	octavo
ninth	noveno
tenth	décimo

For ordinal numbers beyond that, you have to learn the multiples of ten first, then you can form combinations.

twentieth	vigésimo
thirtieth	trigésimo
fortieth	cuadragésimo
fiftieth	quincuagésimo
sixtieth	sexagésimo
seventieth	septuagésimo
eightieth	octogésimo
ninetieth	nonagésimo
hundredth	centésimo
thousandth	milésimo

The twenty second then becomes “vigésimo segundo”, while “quincuagésimo quinto” is the fifty fifth.

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More rules for Spanish numbers

There are a few things to remember when forming and using numbers in Spanish:

• Don’t forget that the number one has to agree with the gender of the noun if you count something: it’s “un libro” (one book, which is masculine), but “una persona” (one person, feminine). One by itself is “uno”, as in “tengo uno” (I have one).
• “Un” is also the indefinite article: “one book” and “a book” is the same in Spanish, “un libro”.
• If you have exactly one hundred of something, you use “cien” (100). “Ciento” is used to form a larger number, such as “ciento uno” (101).
• Unlike other numbers, the ordinal numbers have to agree with the gender as well. It’s “el cuarto libro” (the fourth book), but “la segunda persona” (the second person). “Primero” and “tercero” drop the “o” before a singular masculine noun: “el primer hijo” (the first son).
• You can use ordinal numbers to form fractions, as in “un cuarto” (a quarter) or “un octavo” (an eight). Again, these will have to agree with the gender of any noun you place after. However, half is expressed as “medio” o “media”, as in “media naranja” (half an orange).

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