Spanish numbers can be confusing for persons new to the language. Numbers made up of more than one part are often formed differently than they are in English, and some Spanish numbers change according to the gender of the nouns they apply to.
List of Spanish Numbers
Following are the basic Spanish numbers and patterns in which they are formed. Those in bold italics are forms that change according to gender, while the non-italic forms are fixed.
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1. uno
2. dos
3. tres
4. cuatro
5. cinco
6. seis
7. siete
8. ocho
9. nueve
10. diez
11. once
12. doce
13. trece
14. catorce
15. quince
16. dieciséis
17. diecisiete
18. dieciocho
19. diecinueve
20. veinte
21. veintiuno
22. veintidós
23. veintitrés
24. veinticuatro
25. veinticinco
26. veintiséis
27. veintisiete
28. veintiocho
29. veintinueve
30. treinta
31. treinta y uno
32. treinta y dos
33. treinta y tres
40. cuarenta
41. cuarenta y uno
42. cuarenta y dos
50. cincuenta
60. sesenta
70. setenta
80. ochenta
90. noventa
100. ciento (cien)
101. ciento uno
102. ciento dos
103. ciento tres
110. ciento diez
199. ciento noventa y nueve
200. doscientos
201. doscientos uno
202. doscientos dos
203. doscientos tres
251. doscientos cincuenta y uno
252. doscientos cincuenta y dos
300. trescientos
400. cuatrocientos
500. quinientos
600. seiscientos
700. setecientos
800. ochocientos
900. novecientos
1.000. mil
2.000. dos mil
3.000. tres mil
3.333. tres mil trescientos treinta y tres
1.000.000. un millón
1.000.000.000. mil millones
The numbers above are sometimes called the cardinal numbers (números cardinales) to distinguith them from ordinal numbers (números ordinales) such as "first" and "second."
Shortening Uno and Ciento
Uno and numbers ending in -uno are shortened to un when they immediately precede a masculine noun. When standing alone (that is, being 100 exactly) ciento is shortened to cien before preceding a noun of either gender; the longer form is used within longer numbers (except when preceding mil).
un lápiz (one pencil)
una pluma (one pen)
cincuenta y un lápices (51 pencils)
cincuenta y una plumas (51 pens)
cien lápices (100 pencils)
cien plumas (100 pens)
ciento tres lápices (103 pencils)
ciento tres plumas (103 pens)
cien mil lápices (100,000 pencils)
cien mil plumas (100,000 pens)
Gender of Numbers
Most numbers don't change with gender, but some do: When a number ends in -uno ("one"), the form -un is used before masculine nouns, and -una before feminine nouns. The uno form is used only in counting. Accent marks are used wher needed to maintain the correct pronunciation. The hundreds of portions of numbers change in gender even when other parts of the number intervene before the noun.
un coche (one car)
una casa (one house)
veintiún coches (21 cars)
veintiuna casas (21 houses)
doscientos coches (200 cars)
doscientas casas (200 houses)
doscientos dos coches (202 cars)
doscientas dos casas (202 houses)
Punctuation of Numbers
In most of the Spanish-speaking world, periods and commas within numbers are reversed from what they are in U.S. English. Thus in Spain 1.234,56 would be the way of writing mil doscientos treinta y cuatro coma cincuentqa y seis, or what would be written in the United States as 1,234.56. In Mexico, Puerto Rico and parts of Central America, numbers usually are punctuated as they are in the United States.
Spelling of Numbers
The numbers 16 through 19 and 21 through 29 used to be spelled as diez y seis, diez y siete, diez y ocho ... veinte y uno, veinte y dos, etc. You'll still see that spelling sometimes (the pronunciation is the same), but the modern spelling is preferred.
Note that y ("and") is not used to separate hundreds from the remainder of the number; thus "one hundred and sixty-one" is not ciento y sesenta y uno but ciento sesenta y uno. Note also that mil is not made plural in numbers above 1,999. Thus 2,000 is dos mil, not dos miles. Also, 1,000 is simply mil, not un mil.
Pronunciation of Years
The years in Spanish are pronounced the same as other cardinal numbers are. Thus, for example, the year 2040 would be pronounced as "dos mil cuarenta." The English custom of pronouncing the centuries separately (in English we typically say "twenty forty" instead of "two thousand forty") is not followed.
Millions and More
Numbers larger than the millions can get problematic in both English and Spanish. Traditionally, a billion has been a thousand million in U.S. English but a million-million in British English and Spanish has followed the British standard, with a trillion being a thousand billions in either case. Thus 1,000,000,000,000 would be a billion in British English but a trillion in U.S. English. Precise Spanish, following the British understanding, uses mil millones for 1,000,000,000 and billón for 1,000,000,000,000, while trillón is 1,000,000,000,000,000. But U.S. English has influenced Spanish, especially in Latin America, creating some confusion.
