Jan 21 2008
Spanish Numbers
This is another basic Spanish vocabulary lesson. A few notes before we start. First, some numbers change slightly depending on the gender of the noun they’re coupled with. For examle, un niño and una niña. Notice that we didn’t use uno for niño; uno is used in counting or when replying to someone asking if you want more. You would say, “Un taco, por favor”, when ordering, but when asked if you would like more, you could reply, “Sí, uno más, por favor.”
Another number that often gets confused is 500 - quinientos - not cincocientos. Also in Spanish, a number like 1,400 is shown as 1.400 and is always spelled and pronounced as mil cuatrocientos, not catorcecientos or fourteen hundred. We’ll cover this more in future lessons within the context that gives rise to such confusion, such as when dealing with dates.
To further confuse this, it is common to see different spelling for certain numbers. The numbers 16 to 19 and 21 to 29 can be written two different ways, Veinte y cinco or veinticinco. The later is used today in Mexican schools, but the other way is still common and widely used.
Below is a list of numbers and below that is a Shockwave application to help with pronounciation and to test your listening skills.