Lós núméros en éspanyol

Question

Why does "quinientos" means 500, instead of "cincocientes" where by cinco means 5. Why?

Answer 1

Ok maybe here is the answer

"Cinco" translated into Latin is "quinque" that's why it is "quin ientos". Now I don't know who or why they chose "quinientos" instead of "cincocientos"

Answer 2

Hello Thiago,

You wrote in your title,

La numéros en espanyol

The Spanish say: Los números en español

You asked;

Why does "quinientos" means 500, instead of "cincocientes" where by cinco means 5. Why?

Well, this is just how the Spanish write it. There are exceptions in every language, and Spanish is no exception to this (sorry , accidental pun!) and in Spanish, 500 is written as quinientos. Maybe a grammar expert who has studied the evolution of words (entymology?) could explain how this exception arose.

Examples; 1 masculine 2 feminine

1 Hay quinientos perros en el gran parque. = There are 500 dogs in the big park.

2.Rosa compró (o ha comprado) una nueva chaqueta por quinientas libras.esterlinas = Rosa bought a new jacket for £500 pounds (English Sterling pounds)

As you can see from the 2 examples above the ending of the word quinientos changes depending on whether the noun it qualifies is masculine or feminine. perros is masculine but libras esterlinas is feminine

I hope this helps

I'll try to understand this. Gracias - Thiago22, Aug 20, 2014

De nada :) - FELIZ77, Aug 20, 2014