Numbers
The numbers in Spanish have almost no similarity to English. However, they do have a similarity to Greek and Latin number roots. That may or may not help you. Just learn the first fifteen numbers, and we'll go from there.
| Number |
Spanish |
Pronunciation |
| 1 |
uno |
ooh - noh |
| 2 |
dos |
dose |
| 3 |
tres |
treyse |
| 4 |
cuatro |
qua - tro |
| 5 |
cinco |
sink - oh |
| 6 |
seis |
sayse |
| 7 |
siete |
see - eht - ay |
| 8 |
ocho |
oh - cho |
| 9 |
nueve |
new - ay - vay |
| 10 |
diez |
dee - ehz |
| 11 |
once |
on - say |
| 12 |
doce |
dose - ay |
| 13 |
trece |
tray - say |
| 14 |
catorce |
cat - ore - say |
| 15 |
quince |
keen - say |
The next set of numbers is a little bit more difficult to understand, and I'll explain later. For now, you should learn all of these numbers. Later, I'll go in to how to use these numbers.
| Number |
Spanish |
Pronunciation |
| 20 |
viente |
bain - te |
| 30 |
trenta |
train - tah |
| 40 |
cuarenta |
cuar - en - tah |
| 50 |
|
sin - quen - tah |
| 60 |
sesenta |
say - sent - tah |
| 70 |
setenta |
say - tent - tah |
| 80 |
ochenta |
oh - chen - tah |
| 90 |
noventa |
noh - vent - ah |
Now here comes the hard part. The way that you create numbers greater than fifteen is you take the word for the tens position, and "y", then add the number for the ones position. Example: to say that you have sixteen cars, you would say, "Tengo diez y seis coches."" Notice that the words are (literally) I have ten and six cars. The same thing goes for all numbers up to one hundred. At and after one hundred, the system is basically the same with a few minor adjustments, but I am not going to didcuss it now because I cannot remember how to spell anything past one hundred and must look it up. Please be patient.
© 1997 joseph Holder
