![]() ![]() 11 is literally one + ten and 12 is literally two + ten. The others up until 11 are fairly straightforward to memorize but you’ll notice that 11 and 12 are different to 13 onward. Tercero is a bit different since the letters switch around (but so does third in English!). Primero is related to primary and segundo actually sounds very close to second. The first two ordinal Spanish numbers: primero and segundo (1st and 2nd) are easy to remember. It’s often confusing for learners of English to remember -st, -nd, -rd, -th and put them on the appropriate numbers. Just like in English, there are clear suffix patterns you can follow (and exceptions you just have to learn regardless). Latin/French influence aside, English also shares common ancestry (Proto-Indo-European) so even our Germanic numbers bear close resemblance. ![]() You could almost say that it’s just a matter of learning new pronunciation and spelling for the most part.Īnd if you decide to learn Italian or French after Spanish, you’re already most of the way there! □īut even for monolingual English speakers who have never learned a foreign language - you’ve already encountered all of these Latin-derivatives in some form or another. If you’ve already learned or been exposed to these linguistic cousins then you basically already know Spanish numbers (kind of!). ![]() Now that you know your numbers in Spanish, no one can stop you!ĭon’t miss my next video and article where I tell you all about describing things in Spanish.How does etymology help you learn Spanish numbers? However, if you are more visual, you can remember ‘quince’ starts with a ‘q’, whereas ‘cinco’ and ‘cincuenta’ with a ‘c.’ ‘Quinceañera’ comes from ‘quince’ since they’re turning 15 (not 5, of course). ![]() Sometimes people get a bit confused when they reach ‘cincuenta.’ Instead of taking the root from ‘cinco,’ they take it from ‘quince.’ With that in mind, here are a few tips to tell them apart: maybe you’ve been to a ‘quinceañera’ party or have at least seen one in her princess-like dress. That way you’ll remember the beginning faster since they are very similar. To find the root, simply keep in mind the numbers from one to ten. 30įrom 40 to 90, all numbers in Spanish end in -enta. Numbers in Spanish after thirty have the same structure: first the ten multiples and then the numbers from 1 to 9, and a “y” in the middle. Notice the pattern: the word “veinte” in all these numbers drops the “e” at the end: veint- 20 Notice that there are two slight spelling changes: “z” becomes “c” and “y” becomes “i”, but the pronunciation is the same. “Dieciséis” is a reduced form of “diez” + “y”* + “seis”, in English: “ten and six” (it is the same origin as “sixteen” = six + ten). What happens after fifteen? Counting from 16 to 30 16Īll numbers in Spanish from 16 to 29 have one thing in common: they combine three words in one. So it makes more sense in the context of “I want 3 orders of tacos, please” or “It costs 15 pesos”. First of all, it is not the first thing we teach, since to use numbers in Spanish you need more content: to count, you need things, and for that, you need basic words. In the Fluenz Spanish program, we do just that. That is why your best bet is taking it step by step and simply learning a few at a time really well before moving on to the next batch. Numbers are always a stumble because they require a lot of memorization. These will be your building blocks for larger, more complex numbers in Spanish. Since there is no rule for these, you have to learn them by heart. Here are some tricks to master numbers in Spanish.įirst: all you need to know is to count from 1 to 15: 1 Most people remember “uno”, “dos”, and “tres”, but then, after that, things get a bit trickier. You might know some numbers in Spanish already, maybe you have heard them in songs or asked for prices at a store. Two facts make numbers in Spanish easy to learn: you already know more than you realize–from the movie Tres Amigos to Dos Equis beer, Spanish numbers are everywhere–, and more importantly, the rules to form every Spanish-language number from 20 to 99 are actually super simple. We use numbers in practically every situation you can think of and numbers in Spanish are no exception–from getting two coffees to meeting someone at 9. Numbers in Spanish: learn to count from 1 to 100 ![]()
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