Learning to count in another language may not necessarily sound like a fun time. It combines the frustrations of learning a language with math (unless you like math, in which case this will be great!). Numbers are one of the most important things you can know in a language, whether you’re asking for a table for four or for two café con leches.
Fortunately, numbers in Spanish aren’t that hard. Some would even say it’s as easy as uno, dos, tres. You’re groaning, and we can tell. Here’s everything you need to know, and once you’ve mastered all that, there’s lots more basic Spanish vocabulary to master.
Spanish Numbers From Zero To Twenty
You’ll need to memorize the words for each individual Spanish number ranging from 0 to 20, and that’s for a couple of reasons: one, because counting higher than 20 will require you to use the words for single digits below 10, and because the words for numbers ranging from 11 to 19 don’t follow a totally predictable pattern (kind of like “eleven” and “twelve” in the English language).
zero — cero one — uno two — dos three — tres four — cuatro five — cinco six — seis seven — siete eight — ocho nine — nueve ten — diez eleven — once twelve — doce thirteen — trece fourteen — catorce fifteen — quince sixteen — dieciséis seventeen — diecisiete eighteen — dieciocho nineteen — diecinueve twenty — veinte
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The Rest Of The Tens in Spanish
You’ll also need to remember the words for “thirty,” “forty,” “fifty,” and so on.
Once you get to 20, the rest is pretty boilerplate and intuitive. When counting in Spanish from 21 to 29, the veinte becomes veinti, and the word for the individual digit gets tacked on to form a single compound word. So “twenty-one” becomes veintiuno, “twenty-six” becomes veintiséis (now with an accent over the “e”), and so on. Veintidós and veintitrés also get accents. By the way, the “v” is pronounced like a soft “b” here. Listen to the audio clips to get a feel for the pronunciation.
After 30, Spanish numbers become even more straightforward. The formula for “fifty-two” is basically “fifty and two.” Thus, “thirty-four” is treinta y cuatro; “eighty-nine” is ochenta y nueve. Hopefully you won’t ever need to use these when you’re making a reservation for a birthday dinner (Jesus be a place that takes separate checks), but whether you will or you won’t, Babbel’s got you covered.
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