Numbers in Spanish

How numbers work in Spanish

Spanish has separate words for 0 to 15: cero, uno, dos … once, doce, trece, catorce, quince. From 16 to 19, diez and the unit merge into one word: dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve.

The twenties are also written as one word: veintiuno, veintidós, veintitrés … veintinueve. From 31 the ten and the unit are separate words joined by y (and): treinta y uno, cuarenta y cinco, noventa y nueve. The tens are treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa.

Uno becomes un before a masculine noun (un libro, veintiún años) and una before a feminine one (una casa, veintiuna personas). Hundreds from 200 also agree in gender: doscientos euros but doscientas personas.

100 on its own is cien; in longer numbers it becomes ciento: ciento uno, ciento veinte. Irregular hundreds are quinientos (500), setecientos (700) and novecientos (900). Mil (1,000) takes no un and no plural: dos mil. Millón does: un millón, dos millones.

The ordinals primero to décimo are common in everyday speech; above ten people usually switch to cardinals. Primero and tercero shorten to primer and tercer before a masculine noun: el primer día.

Times start with son las; only one o'clock takes es la una. Up to half past you add minutes with y (y cuarto, y media, y diez); after that you subtract from the next hour with menos: las nueve menos veinte is 8:40.

Y media means half past, so las tres y media is 3:30, just like English. In everyday speech the 12-hour clock is used with de la mañana, de la tarde or de la noche. The 24-hour clock is heard in timetables, on the radio and for official appointments.