Look, just because you once knew all the lyrics to “Mambo No. 5” in Spanish doesn’t mean you’re prepared to order the right amount of tequila shots under pressure. And maybe you were hip to what Offspring meant in 1998 when they famously declared, “uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis,” but fail to master Spanish numbers, and you might be the next guy who “asks for a 13, but they drew a 31.”
Fortunately, numbers in Spanish aren’t that hard. Some would even say it’s as easy as uno, dos, tres. You’re groaning, and we can tell. Here’s everything you need to know.
Spanish Numbers From Zero To Twenty
You’ll need to memorize the words for each individual Spanish number ranging from 0 to 20, and that’s for a couple of reasons: one, because counting higher than 20 will require you to use the words for single digits below 10, and because the words for numbers ranging from 11 to 19 don’t follow a totally predictable pattern (kind of like “eleven” and “twelve” in the English language).
zero — cero
one — uno
two — dos
three — tres
four — cuatro
five — cinco
six — seis
seven — siete
eight — ocho
nine — nueve
ten — diez
eleven — once
twelve — doce
thirteen — trece
fourteen — catorce
fifteen — quince
sixteen — dieciséis
seventeen — diecisiete
eighteen — dieciocho
nineteen — diecinueve
twenty — veinte
The Rest Of The Tens
You’ll also need to remember the words for “thirty,” “forty,” “fifty,” and so on.
thirty — treinta
forty — cuarenta
fifty — cincuenta
sixty — sesenta
seventy — setenta
eighty — ochenta
ninety — noventa
one hundred — cien
Numbers In Spanish: Putting It All Together
Once you get to 20, the rest is pretty boilerplate and intuitive. When counting in Spanish from 21 to 29, the veinte becomes veinti, and the word for the individual digit gets tacked on to form a single compound word. So “twenty-one” becomes veintiuno, “twenty-six” becomes veintiséis (now with an accent over the “e”), and so on. Veintidós and veintitrés also get accents. By the way, the “v” is pronounced like a soft “b” here. Listen to the audio clips to get a feel for the pronunciation.
After 30, Spanish numbers become even more straightforward. The formula for “fifty-two” is basically “fifty and two.” Thus, “thirty-four” is treinta y cuatro; “eighty-nine” is ochenta y nueve. Hopefully you won’t ever need to use these when you’re making a reservation for a birthday dinner (Jesus be a place that takes separate checks), but whether you will or you won’t, Babbel’s got you covered.