15 Los números (numbers)
Visit los números: pronunciación to hear how numbers are pronounced in Spain.
(http://www.languageguide.org/spanish/numbers/)
Los números 0-100
| 0 cero | 7 siete | 14 catorce | 21 veintiuno | 60 sesenta |
| 1 uno | 8 ocho | 15 quince | 22 veintidós (etc.) | 70 setenta |
| 2 dos | 9 nueve | 16 dieciséis | 30 treinta | 80 ochenta |
| 3 tres | 10 diez | 17 diecisiete | 31 treinta y uno | 90 noventa |
| 4 cuatro | 11 once | 18 dieciocho | 32 treinta y dos (etc.) | 100 cien |
| 5 cinco | 12 doce | 19 diecinueve | 40 cuarenta | 101 ciento uno |
| 6 seis | 13 trece | 20 veinte | 50 cincuenta | 102 ciento dos |
Practice with numbers
Knowing numbers will allow you to communicate about prices, phone numbers, dates of the month and the existence and number of items.
1. How much does it cost?
To ask how much something costs, there are a couple of easy expressions we can use. Just keep in mind whether the item is singular or plural:
| ¿Cuánto cuesta? | How much does it cost? |
| ¿Cuánto es? | How much is it? |
| ¿Cuánto cuestan? | How much do they cost? |
To reply, one can simply respond with the number, or use the same verb from the question to make a full sentence:
| ¿Cuánto es el libro? | How much is the book? |
| Es treinta dólares. | It’s thirty dollars. |
| ¿Cuánto cuestan las sandalias? | How much do the sandals cost? |
| Cuestan quince dólares. | They cost fifteen dollars. |
2. What’s your phone number?
When asking for someone’s phone number, remember you’re talking to someone, so you want to ask the question appropriately using either the familiar “tú” form (friends, people of your age, or those younger than you) or in the formal “Ud.” form (those you don’t know well, bosses, those significantly older than you).
| ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? (familiar) | What’s your phone number? |
| ¿Cuál es su número de teléfono? (formal) | What’s your phone number? |
To give your phone number, it’s fine to use single digit numbers:
- Mi número es cuatro / nueve / uno / siete / cero / ocho / seis.
- My number is four / nine / one / seven / zero / eight / six.
However, it’s also helpful to know that native speakers will frequently give their numbers using double digits, so the same seven-digit phone number might be given like this:
- Mi número es cuatro / noventa y uno / setenta / ochenta y seis.
- My number is four / ninety one / seventy / eighty six.
3. What’s today’s date?
There are a couple of common ways to ask what the date is; sometimes “hoy” (today) is left unstated:
| ¿Cuál es la fecha (de hoy)? | What’s today’s date? |
| ¿Qué fecha es? | What’s the date? |
For the most part, Spanish uses cardinal numbers (two, three, four) to express dates instead of ordinal numbers (the second, the third, the fourth). The one exception is with the first of each month when Spanish does use the ordinal number “primero” = “first”.
Whereas in English it’s acceptable to say either of the following, Spanish uses only the equivalent structure of the