I can say and write out in words any number up to a million and read a year — mil novecientos setenta y cinco.
Numbers over a hundred, and years
Hundreds, thousands, and years
Without big numbers you can't give a price or a year of birth. In Spanish a year is read whole, as an ordinary number.
Exactly 100 is cien: cien euros. From 101 to 199 it is ciento plus the rest: ciento uno, ciento veinte. NOT “cien uno”.
Unlike English numbers, the hundreds agree in gender: doscientos euros, doscientas casas. NOT “doscientos casas”.
y goes only between the tens and the units, never after the hundred as in English “a hundred and two”: ciento treinta y dos. NOT “ciento y treinta”.
A thousand is mil, without un (English says “one thousand”): mil euros. NOT “un mil euros”. mil has no plural: dos mil, tres mil casas.
A million takes de: un millón de euros.
Years: 1975 = mil novecientos setenta y cinco, 2008 = dos mil ocho. NOT “diecinueve setenta y cinco” — that is the English way of reading years in pairs. NOT “mil nueve cientos”: novecientos is one word.
In a sentence the year comes after en: Nació en 1927. A full date uses the familiar formula, now with the year: el seis de marzo de 1927.
Centuries are written in Roman numerals and read as ordinary numbers, not as “twentieth”: el siglo XX = el siglo veinte.
Hundreds from 100 to 900
Exactly 100 is cien. All the other hundreds change their ending for gender.
| Figure | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | cien euros | cien casas |
| 200 | doscientos euros | doscientas casas |
| 300 | trescientos euros | trescientas casas |
| 400 | cuatrocientos euros | cuatrocientas casas |
| 500 | quinientos euros | quinientas casas |
| 600 | seiscientos euros | seiscientas casas |
| 700 | setecientos euros | setecientas casas |
| 800 | ochocientos euros | ochocientas casas |
| 900 | novecientos euros | novecientas casas |
How to read a year
A year is read as a whole, like an ordinary number: thousands, hundreds, tens.
| Year | In words | Not like this |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | mil novecientos setenta y cinco | diecinueve setenta y cinco |
| 1810 | mil ochocientos diez | dieciocho diez |
| 2008 | dos mil ocho | veinte cero ocho |
| 2024 | dos mil veinticuatro | veinte veinticuatro |
Lesson notes
Hundreds, thousands, and years
Without big numbers you can't give a price or a year of birth. In Spanish a year is read whole, as an ordinary number.
Exactly 100 is cien: cien euros. From 101 to 199 it is ciento plus the rest: ciento uno, ciento veinte. NOT “cien uno”.
Unlike English numbers, the hundreds agree in gender: doscientos euros, doscientas casas. NOT “doscientos casas”.
y goes only between the tens and the units, never after the hundred as in English “a hundred and two”: ciento treinta y dos. NOT “ciento y treinta”.
A thousand is mil, without un (English says “one thousand”): mil euros. NOT “un mil euros”. mil has no plural: dos mil, tres mil casas.
A million takes de: un millón de euros.
Years: 1975 = mil novecientos setenta y cinco, 2008 = dos mil ocho. NOT “diecinueve setenta y cinco” — that is the English way of reading years in pairs. NOT “mil nueve cientos”: novecientos is one word.
In a sentence the year comes after en: Nació en 1927. A full date uses the familiar formula, now with the year: el seis de marzo de 1927.
Centuries are written in Roman numerals and read as ordinary numbers, not as “twentieth”: el siglo XX = el siglo veinte.