Lesson 02 · 6 min read

Spanish Numbers 1 to 100

Numbers come up constantly — prices, phone numbers, addresses, times, and ages. Spanish numbers follow clear patterns, so once you know 1–20 and the tens, you can build every number up to 100.

1. One to twenty

These first twenty are worth memorizing individually, because after twenty the numbers become predictable.

Spanish	English
uno	1
dos	2
tres	3
cuatro	4
cinco	5
seis	6
siete	7
ocho	8
nueve	9
diez	10
once	11
doce	12
trece	13
catorce	14
quince	15
dieciséis	16
diecisiete	17
dieciocho	18
diecinueve	19
veinte	20

2. The tens

To make numbers in between, join the ten and the unit with "y" — for example treinta y cuatro (34), sesenta y siete (67).

Spanish	English
treinta	30
cuarenta	40
cincuenta	50
sesenta	60
setenta	70
ochenta	80
noventa	90
cien	100

3. Numbers in a sentence

Numbers rarely appear alone. Prices, ages and quantities each have their own frame: age uses "tener" rather than "ser", so you say "tengo veinte años" — I have twenty years — not "soy veinte". Prices take "cuesta" for one item and "cuestan" for several. And "uno" shortens to "un" before a masculine noun: un libro, not uno libro.

Spanish	English
Tengo veinticinco años.	I am twenty-five years old.
Cuesta cuarenta euros.	It costs forty euros.
Hay treinta estudiantes.	There are thirty students.

4. Numbers you will actually have to say out loud

The numbers that cause trouble are not the big ones — they are sixteen through twenty-nine, where Spanish switches from two words to one. Dieciséis, diecisiete, veintiuno and veintidós are written as single words and carry accents that a lot of learners drop. From thirty upwards the pattern becomes regular and stays regular: treinta y uno, cuarenta y dos, and so on forever. Phone numbers are usually read in pairs rather than digit by digit, so 91 435 22 78 comes out as noventa y uno, cuatrocientos treinta y cinco, veintidós, setenta y ocho. Being asked to repeat a number more slowly is completely normal — 'más despacio, por favor' exists for exactly this.

Spanish	English	Example
dieciséis	sixteen	Tengo dieciséis años. — I am sixteen.
veintiuno	twenty-one	Hay veintiuno en la clase. — There are twenty-one in the class.
un millón de	a million	Un millón de personas. — A million people.
la mitad	half	La mitad de veinte es diez. — Half of twenty is ten.
¿Cuál es tu número?	What's your number?	¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? — What's your phone number?

Use it in context

Numbers turn up fastest when someone asks your age, your phone number, or what you owe.

—¿Cuántos años tienes? —Tengo veinticinco.
'How old are you?' 'I'm twenty-five.'
En mi clase hay treinta estudiantes.
There are thirty students in my class.
Son cuarenta euros en total.
That's forty euros in total.
Mi número termina en seis, cinco, cuatro, dos, uno.
My number ends in six, five, four, two, one.
Somos ocho para cenar.
There are eight of us for dinner.
De los treinta estudiantes, solo vino la mitad.
Of the thirty students, only half came.

Common mistakes

~~Soy veinte años~~ → Tengo veinte años
Spanish expresses age with tener — literally I have twenty years. Using ser here is one of the most recognisable beginner errors.

~~Tengo uno hermano~~ → Tengo un hermano
Uno shortens to un directly before a masculine noun. It stays uno only when it stands alone: ¿Cuántos tienes? Uno.

~~cien y uno~~ → ciento uno
Spanish does not put y between hundreds and the rest. The y appears only between tens and units — treinta y uno, but ciento uno and doscientos cinco.

Quick check

—¿Cuántos años tienes? —___ veinte. — Tengo / Soy
Show the answer
Tengo — Age uses tener: literally 'I have twenty years'.
Hay ___ estudiantes. (30) — treinta / trece
Show the answer
treinta — Treinta is 30; trece is 13. This pair catches everyone.
Which one is 16? — dieciséis / sesenta
Show the answer
dieciséis — Sesenta is 60.

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