Cardinal Numbers 101+

Quick Answer

Cardinal numbers (números cardinales) are words that tell you how many of something there are.

Check out these sentences showing examples of cardinal numbers.

examples
Hay cuatrocientos noventa y dos dulces en el tarro. There are 492 candies in the jar.
Invitamos a ciento cincuenta personas a nuestra boda. We invited 150 people to our wedding.
Nací en mil novecientos ochenta y cuatro. I was born in 1984.

101-199

To form the numbers 101-199 in Spanish, combine the word ciento(one hundred) with any number below 100.

Check out these examples

Numeral	Spanish
101	ciento uno
102	ciento dos
103	ciento tres
104	ciento cuatro
105	ciento cinco
120	ciento veinte
130	ciento treinta
140	ciento cuarenta
155	ciento cincuenta y cinco
169	ciento sesenta y nueve

Multiples of 100

Several of the multiples of 100 are a combination of the numbers 1-9 + cientos, the plural form of ciento. There are, however, exceptions, so be sure to memorize the irregular forms marked with an asterisk in the table below.

Numeral	Spanish
200	doscientos
300	trescientos
400	cuatrocientos
500	quinientos*
600	seiscientos
700	setecientos*
800	ochocientos
900	novecientos*

200 - 999

To form numbers between 200 and 999, combine a multiple of one hundred with a number between 1 and 99.

Numeral	Spanish
237	doscientos treinta y siete
315	trescientos quince
493	cuatrocientos noventa y tres
545	quinientos cuarenta y cinco
678	seiscientos setenta y ocho
884	ochocientos ochenta y cuatro
748	setecientos cuarenta y ocho
999	novecientos noventa y nueve

Multiples of 1,000

To form multiples of 1,000, you simply add another cardinal number to the word mil(thousand).

Numeral	Spanish
2,000	dos mil
13,000	trece mil
48,526	cuarenta y ocho mil quinientos veintiséis
75,372	setenta y cinco mil trescientos setenta y dos
99,999	noventa y nueve mil novecientos noventa y nueve

The multiples of 1,000 are extremely useful since they are used to express dates.

1776 = mil setecientos setenta y seis

1999 = mil novecientos noventa y nueve

2011 = dos mil once

999,999+

To form numbers above 999,999, you'll use the numbers un millón(one million) and mil millones(one billion) and their multiples.

In English, the number one followed by nine zeros is one billion, while the number 1 followed by twelve zeros is one trillion.

In Spanish, the number one followed by nine zeros is un mil millones, while the number 1 followed by twelve zeros is un billón.

The above mismatch can result in some tricky false cognates, so be careful when using the word billón in Spanish.

2,000,000,000 = dos billones

2,000,000,000 = dos mil millones

Here are some examples of numbers with nine digits or more.

Numeral	Spanish
3,000,000	tres millones
4,876,000	cuatro millones ochocientos setenta y seis mil
3,000,000,000	tres mil millones
48,176,551,021	cuarenta y ocho mil ciento setenta y seis millones quinientos cincuenta y un mil veintiuno
21,345,000,000,010	veintiún billones trescientos cuarenta y cinco mil millones diez