Most people already know how to count to ten in Spanish. If you pay attention to the similarities in 1-10 and , it will be much easier to learn the new digits!
012345012345 6 7 8 9 10 cero- similar to zero uno- like the card game dos- like duo, which involves two people tres- like trio, which involves three people cuatro- four cinco- Cinco de Mayo is the 5 th of May seis- six siete- seven ocho- “ocho-cinco” the foot- ball player is #85 nueve- sounds like nine- and starts with “N” diez- ten
11 12 13 14 15 once- remember this phrase “Once, when I was 11…“ doce- sounds like dos (2), which is included in this number trece- sounds like tres (3), which is included in this number. catorce- similar to cuatro… quince- it’s a stretch, but “cinc- ce” follows the above helper. Numbers all end in “ce”, and start with a similar sound to their 1-5 corresponding number. 16 17 18 19 dieciseis- diez y seis (10 & 6) diecisiete- diez y siete (10 & 7) dieciocho- diez y ocho (10 & 8) diecinueve-diez y nueve (10 & 9) Numbers start with diez y (which means “ten and”) and end in their corresponding number. Put it all together and change “diez y “ to “dieci”. It’s like changing cannot to can’t in English.
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 veinte- this is a tough one. Just memorize it! treinta- has “tre” (from tres) and “nta” cuarenta-has “cua” (from cuatro) and “nta” cincuenta- has “cinc” (from cinco) and “nta” sesenta- has “ses” (from seis) and “nta” setenta- has “set” (from siete) and “nta” ochenta- has “och” (from ocho) and “nta” noventa- has “nov” (from nueve) and “nta” cien- another weird one. Numbers all end in “nta” (sort of like the “ty” in seventy), and start with a similar sound to their 3-9 corresponding number. *Special rule- the number cien only applies to 100. Any other number (101, 199) is ciento + whatever other number it is. Examples ciento uno ciento noventa y nueve
All numbers 30 – 99 start with the first number (cincuenta, treinta, noventa). To add another number to it, add “y” then the number. So… 34 would be treinta y cuatro (literally, 30 & 4) 67 would be sesenta y siete (literally 60 & 7) All numbers in the 20’s break this trend. They combine the words (like dieciseis). So, start with veinti (instead of veinte) and add the number directly to it- do not add a “y”. 21 would be veintiuno 27 would be veintisiete
20- “bain-tay” “bain-tee” 30- “train-tuh” 40- “qua-rent-uh” 50- “sink-went-uh” 60- “sess-ent-uh” 70- “seh-tent-uh” 80- “oh-chent-uh” 90- “no-vent-uh” 100- “see-ent-oh”