Beginner's Guide to Counting in Spanish

Beginner’s Guide to Counting in Spanish

Just like days of the week and greetings , Spanish numbers are essential if you are working on getting that basic Spanish vocabulary of yours in shape. Fortunately, learning how to count in Spanish is much easier than going to the gym because Spanish numbers follow a simple and predictable pattern that doesn’t make every muscle in your body sore. Once you know how to count to 10 in Spanish, counting to 20, 30, 100, and beyond is easy.

Learning how to count is crucial if you decide to learn Spanish . Although we may not always acknowledge it, numbers or_números_ (as you’d call them in Spanish) are essential to our day-to-day lives. From shopping to setting up a meeting, telling time, or giving someone your phone number – they really are one of the most basic and important language lessons. So let’s crack the mystery and discover what comes after_uno_ ,dos, and_tres_ . Because Pitbull only gets us so far.

Spanish numbers 1 to 30

One of my Danish friends discovered how important Spanish numbers actually are when he needed to tell someone the time in Spanish and had no idea that “five” is_cinco_ in Spanish. So this is a great piece of advice: don’t move to Barcelona without knowing one of the most basic Spanish lessons first. Especially when it takes just 10 minutes to master it.

The secret to mastering the Spanish numbers is to learn how to count to 10. “Is that it?” – you’ll say. Well, not entirely. But the first ten numbers are important for two reasons. One: you will probably use them a LOT. And two: they lay the foundations for the next Spanish numbers. Here is the Spanish numbers 1 to 10:

count to 10 in Spanish ](https://app.adjust.io/5ixfg4k?campaign=blog-post-id-5393&fallback=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.mondly.com?avangate%5Fsrc=blog-post-id-5393?mother%5Flang=en%5Fus?target%5Flang=es&redirect%5Fandroid=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.atistudios.mondly.languages&redirect%5Fios=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fapp%2Fid987873536&redirect%5Fmacos=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.mondly.com?avangate%5Fsrc=blog-post-id-5393?mother%5Flang=en%5Fus?target%5Flang=es )

Count to 10 in Spanish

I know what you are thinking. Yeah, there’s also 0 (“zero”) which is_cero_ in Spanish. The pronunciation is a little bit tricky with this one, but if you want to get really good at it, you might wanna try Mondly . Apart from effective, bite-sized lessons and real conversations, Mondly also includes crystal-clear audios recorded by fluent voice artists so you can learn from the best.

Until then, here’s cool audio of a fluent speaker pronouncing the Spanish numbers 1 to 10:

Good to know: _uno_becomes an article and changes to_un_if it’s in front of a noun. For example,_un cerdo_translates to “a pig” in English.

Spanish numbers to 40

Shopping is great especially when there are sales. But what if you need to ask for the price and the seller says_“sólo cuesta veinte euros”_ ? What do you do if you don’t know that_veinte_ is twenty? For a shirt, that may be cheap, but you probably don’t want to pay twenty euros for a rubber duck. Random example, but you got the point: knowing the bigger Spanish numbers can save the valuable contents of your wallet.

Back to numbers, once you get to 20, Spanish numbers are easy to build with what you already know. However, the numbers from 11 to 15 are a bit irregular, so you’ll have to remember them by heart:

11 –once

12 –doce

13 –trece

14 –catorce

15 –quince

Then, from 16 to 19 and even beyond, Spanish numbers are formed following the pattern 10_(diez)_ + number.

16 –dieciséis

17 –diecisiete

18 –dieciocho

19 –diecinueve

Easy, isn’t it? And from here on, the rule stays the same. Once you know the tens, you’ll easily know how to count up to 100_(cien)_ in Spanish. Here’s are the Spanish numbers to 40 in a nutshell:

spanish numbers ](https://app.adjust.io/5ixfg4k?campaign=blog-post-id-5393&fallback=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.mondly.com?avangate%5Fsrc=blog-post-id-5393?mother%5Flang=en%5Fus?target%5Flang=es&redirect%5Fandroid=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.atistudios.mondly.languages&redirect%5Fios=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fapp%2Fid987873536&redirect%5Fmacos=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.mondly.com?avangate%5Fsrc=blog-post-id-5393?mother%5Flang=en%5Fus?target%5Flang=es )

The Spanish numbers up to 40

As you can see, up to 30 (“thirty”), the numbers are bound together, but from there on they part ways to make counting in Spanish even easier for you. Basically, you won’t say “thirty-one”, but “thirtyand one”:treinta y uno .

Count to 100 in Spanish

As we already settled, counting in Spanish is all about mastering the basics. Now that you know how to count to 40, counting to 100 in Spanish is a piece of cake. Just learn the tens and you are ready to go.

20 –veinte

30 –treinta

40 –cuarenta

50 –cincuenta

60 –sesenta

70 –setenta

80 –ochenta

90 –noventa

Let’s see some more examples to make sure you understood how Spanish numbers work:

43 –cuarenta y tres
55 –cincuenta y cinco
62 –sesenta y dos
79 –setenta y nueve
84 –ochenta y cuatro
98 –noventa y ocho

Spanish numbers to 1000 and beyond

Hundreds shouldn’t scare you either. They are just as simple. Once you know how the hundreds are, you’ll also know the numbers in between.

100 –cien

101_– ciento uno_

200 –doscientos

300 –trescientos

400 –cuatrocientos

500 –quinientos

600 –seiscientos

700 –setecientos

800 –ochocientos

900 –novecientos

1000 –mil

Notice how 100 is cien, but once you get to 101 and beyond it changes to_ciento_ ? Additionally, from 200 onwards, we also add an “s” at the end to make it plural:dosciento, trescientos, and so on. And a little secret: in Spanish, the hundreds can be either masculine or feminine (depending on the noun they accompany). For example, “two hundred books” will be dosciento s libros , but to say “two hundred apples” we’ll say doscienta s manzanas .

Here are some more examples:

204 – doscientos cuatro
323 – trescientos veintitrés
747 – setecientos cuarenta y siete
999 – novecientos noventa y nueve

Barcelona, Spain

If you want to go even further, thousands and millions work exactly like in English: number +mil (“thousand”) or_millón_ (“million”). Here are some examples:

3000 – tres mil
3001 – tres mil uno
3018 – tres mil dieciocho
10000 – diez mil
20000 – veinte mil
77100 – setenta y siete mil cien

However, to talk about the population of the world or the bank accounts of some of the richest people in the world, you’ll need even bigger numbers:

million in Spanish is millón
billion in Spanish is mil millones or un millardo
trillion in Spanish is billón

And there you have it! These were the Spanish numbers. BOOM! You’re Mr. Worldwide.

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