When it comes to numbers in Spanish, there are a few things to consider. Numbers are either cardinal numbers (números cardinales) or ordinal numbers (números ordinales). Cardinal numbers are the numbers used in simple counting (as 1, 2, 3) and indicate how many there are of something. Whereas ordinal numbers (as first, second, or third) designate the place of an item in an ordered sequence.
I am mainly focusing on the use of cardinal numbers here. Notice that a few numbers have accents: dieciséis (16), veintidós (22), veintitrés (23), veintiséis (26) + un millón (one million), un billón (one trillion), y un trillón (one quintillion).
Special things happen to the number one! Soooo the number uno (one) and numbers ending in -uno, like veintiuno (21), change form when used before nouns.
Before masculine nouns, uno → un. Ej: un niño, veintiún niños
Before feminine nouns, uno → una. Ej: una niña, veintiuna niñas
However, the forms uno and veintiuno are used when counting &&& when the number follows a noun, even if the noun is feminine. Ej: la lección uno
La hora (Time)
1:00 Es la una. (It’s one.)
2:00 Son las dos. (It’s two.)
La fecha (Date)
Sneaking in a little ordinal number here…
#1 - El primero de enero es un día especial para mí.
(January first is a special day to me.)
Otherwise, 2-31 dates in Spanish stay as cardinal numbers.
Mi cumpleaños es el catorce de octubre.
(My birthday is October fourteenth.)
And years like 2022, are not expressed as pairs (as in English, 1991, nineteen ninety-one), but as the number itself:
1991 = mil novecientos noventa y uno
2022 = dos mil veintidós
While really large numbers may not be used that often, a few numbers are worth highlighting. Note the bold words below.
Los números grandes (Large numbers)
1.000 mil (one thousand)
1.000.000 un millón (de) (one million)
1.000.000.000 mil millones (de), un millardo (de) (one billion)
1.000.000.000.000 un billón (de) (one trillion)
1.000.000.000.000.000 mil billones (one quadrillion)
1.000.000.000.000.000.000 un trillón (one quintillion)
Numbers used figuratively
cientos - hundreds
miles - thousands
Hay cientos de mujeres. (There are hundreds of women.)
Había miles de personas en el festival. (There were thousands of people at the festival.)
El país x da miles de millones al país y. (Country x gives billions to country y.)
When it comes to hundreds…
200-999 agree in gender (masculine or feminine) with the noun they modify.
200 -- doscientos o doscientas
Ej. 600 mujeres -- seiscientas mujeres // 300 chaquetas -- trescientas chaquetas
La Práctica (Practice)
¿Cómo se dice…? (How do you say…?) -- answers below
195
373 libros
750 personas
902
1.001
41.000
40.000
483.367
1.000.000 de dólares
10.000.701
I recommend these YouTube videos by BASHO & FRIENDS:
Count to 20 https://youtu.be/6FEyfy5N3Nc
Count to 1000 https://youtu.be/Yidnh5oOEEM
Las respuestas (Answers)
195 -- ciento noventa y cinco
373 libros -- trescientos setenta y tres libros
750 personas -- setecientas cincuenta personas
902 -- novecientos dos
1.001 -- mil uno
41.000 -- cuarenta y un mil
40.000 -- cuarenta mil
483.367 -- cuatrocientos ochenta y tres mil trescientos sesenta y siete
1.000.000 -- un millón de dólares
10.000.701 -- diez millones setecientos uno