español · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Numbers from zero to one hundred
Produce prices, ages, and quantities without translating digit by digit.
Understand the choice
Use numbers for prices, ages, addresses, times, and phone numbers. Practice them in small groups and say amounts aloud; recognizing a number is much easier than producing it quickly in conversation.
Core rule: Numbers from sixteen to nineteen are written as one word with dieci-, and dieciséis keeps a written accent.
Notice it in context
Necesito dieciséis euros y veinte céntimos.
I need sixteen euros and twenty cents.
Dieciséis carries an accent; veinte is a separate tens form.
Mi abuela tiene setenta y dos años.
My grandmother is seventy-two years old.
From thirty onward, connect tens and units with y.
La habitación cuesta cien euros.
The room costs one hundred euros.
Use cien before a noun for exactly one hundred.
What to remember
- Veintiuno through veintinueve are normally written as one word.
- Thirty-one and higher use tens + y + unit: treinta y uno.
Common trap: Do not insert y between every part of a number: 125 is ciento veinticinco, not ciento y veinticinco.