LESSON #12 – NUMBERS part 2/2

UNDICI – 11

DODICI – 12

TREDICI – 13

QUATTORDICI – 14

QUINDICI – 15

SEDICI – 16

DICIASSETTE – 17

DICIOTTO – 18

DICIANNOVE – 19

VENTI – 20

VENTUNO – 21

VENTIDUE – 22

VENTITRÉ – 23

VENTIQUATTRO – 24

VENTICINQUE – 25

VENTISEI – 26

VENTISETTE – 27

VENTOTTO – 28

VENTINOVE – 29

TRENTA – 30

QUARANTA – 40

CINQUANTA – 50

SESSANTA – 60

SETTANTA – 70

OTTANTA – 80

NOVANTA – 90

CENTO – 100

MILLE – 1.000

DUEMILA – 2.000

IL MILIONE – 1.000.000 (a million)

IL MILIARDO – 1.000.000.000 (a billion)

IL DOLLARO – dollar

I SOLDI (plural) – money

MOLTO – a lot

POCO – few, little

UN PO’ – a little bit

QUALCHE (singular) or ALCUNI (plural) – a few

IL CENTESIMO – cent (100 cents make 1 Euro)

IL PERCENTO or PER CENTO– percent (%)

An alphabetical list of the vocabulary can be found here.


Creating numbers from 11 up…

NUMBERS 11-16

  • first part of the number similar to the numbers 1-6 (un-, do-, tre-, quattor-, quin-, se-) + “dici” similar to 10

NUMBERS 16-19

  • first part of the number similar to 10 – “dic(ia)” + suffix similar to numbers 7-9

NUMBERS 21 and 28

  • twenty “vent” + the second digit

NUMBERS 22-27 and 29

  • twenty “venti” + the second digit

NUMBERS 31-99

  • the same rules as for 21-29
  • 31-39:
    ➡️ Trentuno
    ➡️ Trentadue
    ➡️ Trentatré
    ➡️ Trentaquattro
    ➡️ Trentacinque
    ➡️ Trentasei
    ➡️ Trentasette
    ➡️ Trentotto
    ➡️ Trentanove
  • 41-49:
  • ➡️ Quarantuno
    ➡️ Quarantadue
    ➡️ Quarantatré
    ➡️ Quarantaquattro
    ➡️ Quarantacinque
    ➡️ Quarantasei
    ➡️ Quarantasette
    ➡️ Quarantotto
    ➡️ Quarantanove
  • 51-59:
  • ➡️ Cinquantuno
    ➡️ Cinquantadue
    ➡️ Cinquantatré
    ➡️ Cinquantaquattro
    ➡️ Cinquantacinque
    ➡️ Cinquantasei
    ➡️ Cinquantasette
    ➡️ Cinquantotto
    ➡️ Cinquantanove
  • 61-69:
  • ➡️ Sessantuno
    ➡️ Sessantadue
    ➡️ Sessantatré
    ➡️ Sessantaquattro
    ➡️ Sessantacinque
    ➡️ Sessantasei
    ➡️ Sessantasette
    ➡️ Sessantotto
    ➡️ Sessantanove
  • 71-79:
  • ➡️ Settantuno
    ➡️ Settantadue
    ➡️ Settantatré
    ➡️ Settantaquattro
    ➡️ Settantacinque
    ➡️ Settantasei
    ➡️ Settantasette
    ➡️ Settantotto
    ➡️ Settantanove
  • 81-89:
  • ➡️ Ottantuno
    ➡️ Ottantadue
    ➡️ Ottantatré
    ➡️ Ottantaquattro
    ➡️ Ottantacinque
    ➡️ Ottantasei
    ➡️ Ottantasette
    ➡️ Ottantotto
    ➡️ Ottantanove
  • 91-99:
  • ➡️ Novantuno
    ➡️ Novantadue
    ➡️ Novantatré
    ➡️ Novantaquattro
    ➡️ Novantacinque
    ➡️ Novantasei
    ➡️ Novantasette
    ➡️ Novantotto
    ➡️ Novantanove

Interesting fact !!!

Why “cent” is called in this way? The word ‘cent’ derives from the Latin word centum meaning hundred. And Italian has its roots in Latin.

Why “percent” is called in this way? You already know the preposition “per” and also the number “cento” so you can easily guess why 😉 . Anyway, here is the explanation: the term “percent” derives from the Latin per centum, meaning “hundred” or “by the hundred”.

Attention !!!

In order to express the percentage use the article “il” + number + “percento”, it doesn’t change its form (five percent – il cinque percento). 

NUMBERS 101-999

  • numbers 2-9 + “cento”
    • 100 – cento
    • 200 – duecento
    • 300 – trecento
    • 400 – quattrocento
    • 500 – cinquecento
    • 600 – seicento
    • 700 – settecento
    • 800 – ottocento
    • 900 – novecento
  • “cento” + numbers 1-99 written all together
    • 101 – centouno
    • 102 – centodue
    • 103 – centotré
    • 120 – centoventi
    • 199 – centonovantanove
    • 99 – novecentonovantanove

Attention !!!

There is a problem with “otto“: “cento” ends with “o” and “otto” starts with another one. It means you must write 2 letters “o”:

  • 108 – centootto
  • 308 – trecentootto

But if “ottanta” follows “cento” only 1 “o” remains:

  • 380 – trecentottanta (NOT! trecentoottanta)

The number “tre” is without the accent “é” but all the longer words must have the accent as for “ventitré”, “centotré” and so on because it’s pronounced with the accent on “é”.

NUMBER 1.000 and 2.000+

  • in singular (1.000) it’s “mille“.
  • in plural (2.000, 3.000 and so on) it’s the first digit + “mila“.
  • it’s written all together
    • 1.254 – milleduecentocinquantaquattro
    • 2.469 – duemilaquattrocentosessantanove

Attention !!

Italians use very often this expression:

GRAZIE MILLE! – Thanks a lot! Literally “thanks one thousand (times)!

NUMBERS 10.000+

  • 10.000 – diecimila
  • 100.000 – centomila
  • 500.000 – cinquecentomila
  • 608.000 – seicentoottomila

NUMBERS 1.000.000+

  • “milione” and “miliardo” are nouns and they behave as nouns, not any more as numbers
  • they aren’t written together with the rest of the number
  • they have plural form
    • 1.000.000 – un milione
    • 1.350.999 – un milione trecentocinquantamilanovecentonovantanove
    • 2.000.000 – due milioni
    • 2.000.000.000 – due miliardi
  • “milione” or “miliardo” + other nouns: use the preposition “of” – “di
    • 1.000.000 € – un milione di euro (notice that “euro” doesn’t have plural)
    • 2.000.000 Italians – due milioni di italiani
    • 3.000.000.000 $ – tre miliardi di dollari
  • “milione” or “miliardo” + other numbers + other nouns: without the prepostion “of” – “di
    • 10.500.000 $ – dieci milioni cinquecentomila dollari

VOCABULARY RELATED TO NUMERS

Attention !!!

SOLDI” is usually used in plural and without any article:

Do you have any money?
Hai soldi?
I don’t have any money.
Non ho soldi.

“MOLTO” and “POCO” change according to the grammatical number and gender: (we mention only the plural because it’s usually used to quantify something in plural)

MOLTO
MASCULINE FEMININE
molti molte
POCO
MASCULINE FEMININE
pochi poche

Attention !!!

In order to have the same pronunciation of “c” for all the forms you have to insert “h” after “c”.

I have little money.
Ho pochi soldi.

I have a lot of money.
Ho molti soldi.

UN PO’ ” is literally “un poco” but it’s abbreviated and the apostrophe substitutes the lost part “co”: poco → po’.

QUALCHE” and “ALCUNI” has the same meaning. Use “qualche” is the noun is singular or use “alcuni” if the noun is plural.

I’ve got a few dollars.
Ho qualche dollaro. (dollaro is singular)
Ho alcuni dollari. (dollari is plural)

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