A1 vocabulary guide
Spanish numbers: count beyond diez
Numbers become useful as soon as you ask a price, give an address or say when you are free. Spanish number words have dependable patterns, but the joins matter: learn the tens first, then notice when y appears and where the accents sit.
Start with the pattern
Words are easier to keep when they make sense.
From 0 to 15, learn the forms individually. Dieciséis, veintidós and veintitrés carry written accents; 16–29 are generally written as one word. From 31 to 99, combine tens and units with y: treinta y cuatro. Do not add y between a round ten and another round ten.
Hundreds change form before nouns: cien becomes ciento before a further number (ciento uno), and some hundreds agree in gender: doscientas páginas. Mil does not take a plural s for an exact number (tres mil), while millón is a noun and usually takes de before a following noun (un millón de habitantes).
Hear it in a sentence
Examples in everyday Spanish
El billete cuesta treinta y ocho euros.
The ticket costs thirty-eight euros.
Hay ciento veinte páginas en esta edición.
There are one hundred and twenty pages in this edition.
Necesitamos doscientas entradas para el grupo.
We need two hundred tickets for the group.
Entradas is feminine plural, so doscientas agrees.
La dirección es calle Mayor, número veintisiete.
The address is 27 Mayor Street.
Listen for the local detail
A note on Spanish in Spain
- Spanish uses a comma for many decimal fractions and a space or full stop for large-number grouping in formal contexts; formatting conventions can differ by country and publication.
- When telling the time, Spanish uses es la una but son las dos, and half past is y media. That system is often more useful than translating English number-by-number.
Look out for
Common mistakes, made clearer
Avoid
Treinta uno.
Use / understand
Treinta y uno.
Numbers from 31 to 99 use y between the tens and units.
Avoid
Tres miles personas.
Use / understand
Tres mil personas.
Mil stays unchanged after an exact number.
Avoid
Doscientos páginas.
Use / understand
Doscientas páginas.
The hundreds 200–900 agree in gender with the counted noun.
Five quick checks
Try it before you peek.
- 01
Write 46 in Spanish.
Reveal answer and explanation
Cuarenta y seis.
Use y between the tens and units from 31 to 99.
- 02
Complete: ___ (one) casa.
Reveal answer and explanation
Una casa.
Uno changes to una before a feminine singular noun.
- 03
Write “three thousand visitors.”
Reveal answer and explanation
Tres mil visitantes.
Mil is invariable in this construction.
- 04
Choose the correct form: ___ (200) sillas.
Reveal answer and explanation
Doscientas sillas.
Sillas is feminine plural, so the hundreds form agrees.
- 05
How do you say 16?
Reveal answer and explanation
Dieciséis.
The written form has an accent on the final é.
Still wondering
Questions about spanish numbers: count beyond diez
When does Spanish use y in compound numbers?
Use y between tens and units from 31 through 99: cincuenta y dos. It is not used in veintidós, nor between hundreds and tens.
Is cien different from ciento?
Use cien for exactly 100 and before a noun (cien euros); use ciento when another number follows (ciento cinco).
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