Mike in Chayofa

.. but were afraid to ask!!!

OK … numbers frighten everyone to death and (sorry) but there’s no way to get to grips with them other than to learn and practice. Luckily, you can make a game of it by counting things in Spanish. If you are walking somewhere you can look at house numbers and translate them. Look for phone numbers etc

Remember that Spanish people all have their own way of saying phone numbers. It is usual to group them in pairs – you will often hear the advert on the radio (it just shows the power of advertising because I can’t think who it is for)

Veinte, veinte uno, veinte dos … 20, 21, 22 (it flows better in Spanish!)


More notes after the numbers.


0 cero
1 uno (un, una)
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 etc

30 treinta
31 treinta y uno
32 treinta y dos etc

40 cuarenta
50 cincuenta
60 sesenta
70 setenta
80 ochenta
90 noventa

100 cien (ciento)
101 ciento uno (una)
102 ciento dos
110 ciento diez etc

200 doscientos/as
201 doscientos/as uno/a
202 doscientos/as dos etc

300 trescientos/as
400 cuatrocientos/as
500 quinientos/as
600 seiscientos/as
700 setecientos/as
800 ochocientos/as
900 novecientos/as

1000 mil

1001 mil uno/a
1002 mil dos etc

1220 mil doscientos veinte etc

2000 dos mil etc

OK … it’s hardly surprising that we have difficulty with numbers. If a Spanish person says a number to you, the first thing that happens is that your brain recognizes that it is a number and tends to seize up. The problem then is that you actually miss the rest of the number. It does get easier with practice .

You also have another problem or two. Look at the Spanish words for 60 and also 70. Is it any wonder that even native Spaniards have problems.

Points to note

uno drops the ‘o’ before masculine nouns

un libro … one book (it’s actually the same in English – you could say ‘one book’ or ‘a book’)

The same applies to compound numbers – to the question ‘How many children are in the playground?’ The answer would either be:

(a) hay treinta y uno (there are 31) or
(b) hay treinta y un niños (there are 31 children)

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If you are following ‘Wanna learn Spanish’, you will know that all nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine – so 1, 21, 31 etc and 200, 300 etc have a feminine form

500 euros quinientos euros
500 pounds (sterling) quinientas libras

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ciento is used before numbers smaller than 100:

104 euros … ciento cuatro euros

otherwise it is shortened to cien:

100 euros … cien euros

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Fractions

1/4 un cuarto

1/3 un tercio

1/2 un medio/una media

2/3 dos tercios

3/4 tres cuartos

Others

0,5 cero coma cinco

1,2 uno coma tres

Remember that the full stop is used with numbers over one thousand and the comma is used to denote decimals ie the opposite of English:

eg 200.003,45

KirstyJay

A question about the fractions...

I have seen 'Midad de' used in some instances to say 'half'

eg: mitad de precio - half price.

Is there a rule for when to use mitad and when to use medio???

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Mike in Chayofa

Can't answer this one, I'm afraid - it's one of those things that you just get to 'feel'.

Medio/a is used with time, weight etc and is the translation for 'half'.

Mitad is also half, but usually used in the meaning of half (way), in the middle, in the centre etc

Not very helpful, am I !!!

KirstyJay

Not really

I wouldn't worry though, as I asked the Spanish barman at my local a few months ago (he speaks very good english and helps us learn Spanish whenever we get a chance to go up there) and he was at a loss too!

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Mike in Chayofa

Of course the technical answer is that 'la mitad' is a noun, and medio/a is an adjective or an adverb ... but that knowledge ain't gonna help you much in a conversation!