Spanish Numbers 1 to 1,000: How to Count, Say Prices, and Use Them in Sentences

How do you say numbers in Spanish? Spanish numbers follow a predictable pattern once you know the base forms from 1 to 30. From 31 onwards, numbers are built by combining tens and units with y (and). This guide covers everything: counting to 1,000, saying prices and phone numbers, and the small irregularities that trip learners up.

Spanish Numbers 1–15

The numbers from 1 to 15 must be memorised individually — they follow no pattern:

Spanish Numbers 16–29

From 16 to 19, Spanish fuses diez and the unit into a single word. From 20 to 29, the same happens with veinte:

Spanish Numbers 30–99: The y Rule

From 30 onwards, Spanish builds compound numbers by saying the ten, then y, then the unit. No fusion — always three separate words:

30 + 5 = treinta y cinco 40 + 7 = cuarenta y siete 90 + 3 = noventa y tres

The tens:

So the full pattern is: [ten] + y + [unit]

Tengo treinta y dos años. — I am thirty-two years old. Son cuarenta y cinco euros. — That is forty-five euros.

Spanish Numbers 100–999: Hundreds

One hundred is cien when standing alone or before nouns. Before other numbers, it becomes ciento:

cien euros — one hundred euros (exact) ciento veinte — one hundred and twenty (101+)

The hundreds from 200 to 900 are compound words and must agree in gender with the noun that follows — a detail many learners miss:

doscientas personas — two hundred people (feminine, because persona is feminine) trescientos euros — three hundred euros (masculine)

To build any number between 100 and 999, combine the hundred + the rest:

quinientos cuarenta y dos — 542 ochocientas noventa y nueve — 899

Spanish Numbers 1,000+

One thousand is simply mil. Unlike English, Spanish does not say un mil — just mil:

mil — 1,000 dos mil — 2,000 diez mil — 10,000 cien mil — 100,000 un millón — 1,000,000

Building larger numbers follows the same logic:

mil quinientos — 1,500 dos mil veintitrés — 2,023 tres mil cuatrocientas cincuenta — 3,450 (note feminine cuatrocientas if the noun is feminine)

The Two Most Common Mistakes

1. Uno vs Un vs Una

Uno is the standalone number. When used before a noun, it shortens to un (masculine) or una (feminine):

Tengo uno. — I have one. un café — one coffee una persona — one person veintiún años — twenty-one years (the accent on veintiún is mandatory) veintiuna páginas — twenty-one pages

This rule also applies in compound numbers: cuarenta y un euros, treinta y una sillas.

2. Punctuation: Comma vs Point

Spanish uses a period (or space) where English uses a comma in large numbers, and a comma where English uses a decimal point:

This matters when reading price tags, menus, and official documents in Spain.

Practical Uses

Saying Prices

¿Cuánto cuesta? — How much does it cost? Son doce euros con cincuenta. — That’s twelve euros fifty. Cuesta noventa y nueve euros. — It costs ninety-nine euros.

The word con is used in prices the way “and” or “point” is used in English for cents.

Saying Your Phone Number

Spanish speakers typically read phone numbers in pairs:

Mi número es el seis, cuatro tres, veinte, once, noventa y dos. (643 20 11 92)

Saying Dates

Dates use cardinal numbers (not ordinals like in English):

el tres de abril — the third of April (not “the third”) el quince de agosto — the fifteenth of August

The only exception: the first of the month uses el primero:

el primero de enero — the first of January

Ordinal Numbers (First, Second, Third…)

Ordinal numbers are used far less in Spanish than in English. For most practical purposes, Spanish uses cardinal numbers for dates, floors, and rankings. But the first ten ordinals are worth knowing:

primero, segundo, tercero, cuarto, quinto, sexto, séptimo, octavo, noveno, décimo

They agree in gender: la primera planta (the first floor), el segundo piso.

Practise in Context

Numbers are most effectively learned through repeated real-life use, not memorisation alone. The Numbers step in the Learning Journey practises counting, prices, and phone numbers in realistic Spanish dialogues. The Vocabulary drill also reinforces numbers in themed contexts.

For an authoritative reference on Spanish number spelling — including the rules for veintiuno and the gender agreement of hundreds — the Real Academia Española’s Fundéu guide is the definitive source.

Once you can say numbers fluently, you will find every practical interaction in Spain — buying food, catching a bus, understanding prices — becomes dramatically easier. For restaurant situations specifically, the Food and Restaurant guide covers all the phrases around ordering, paying, and splitting the bill where number fluency matters most. For transport, the Public Transport guide puts numbers in the context of ticket prices, platform numbers, and stop counts.