A1
Numbers
How Spanish numbers work, the teens and twenties written as one word, and where uno and cien change shape.
| 1–10 | uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez |
| 11–15 | once, doce, trece, catorce, quince |
| 16–19 | dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve |
| 20s | veintiuno, veintidós … veintinueve |
| 30+ | treinta y uno, treinta y dos … |
Sixteen to twenty-nine are one word
Dieciséis is diez y seis written together, and veintidós is veinte y dos. From thirty on, the y returns and the words separate: treinta y uno.
diez y seis
dieciséis
Below thirty the compound is written as one word. Above it, three words with y — and there is no y between hundreds and tens: ciento veinte, never ciento y veinte.
uno agrees and shortens
Uno becomes un before a masculine noun and una before a feminine one.
veintiún años
twenty-one years
twenty-one years
treinta y una personas
thirty and one (f.) people
thirty-one people
No other number changes for gender, except the hundreds: doscientas casas.
cien and ciento
Cien for exactly a hundred, ciento when something follows.
| cien | 100 |
| ciento uno | 101 |
| doscientos | 200 |
| quinientos | 500 |
Quinientos, setecientos and novecientos are the irregular ones — not cincocientos.
cien euros
hundred euros
a hundred euros
There is no un before cien. Un cien euros is not Spanish.
mil never takes a plural
Mil, dos mil, tres mil. Only when it means thousands loosely does it become miles: miles de personas.