Numbers

NOTES

(by DuoItalian)

CARDINAL NUMBERS
Numbers that denote quantity (1, 2, 3, etc.) are often referred to as “cardinal numbers” or “natural numbers”. The first twenty in Italian are fairly unique and need to be memorized.

uno	one	undici	eleven
due	two	dodici	twelve
tre	three	tredici	thirteen
quattro	four	quattordici	fourteen
cinque	five	quindici	fifteen
sei	six	sedici	sixteen
sette	seven	diciassette	seventeen
otto	eight	diciotto	eighteen
nove	nine	diciannove	nineteen
dieci	ten	venti	twenty

There are a couple of exceptions to the basic conformity of the Italian cardinal numbers after this:

• When uno (one) and otto (eight) are added to numbers venti (twenty) through novanta (ninety), the final vowel is dropped.
• Any number ending with tre (three) must add an accent on the end such as: trentatré (thirty-three), settantatré (seventy-three), etc.

vent-uno	twenty-one	ventisei	twenty-six
ventidue	twenty-two	ventisette	twenty-seven
ventitré	twenty-three	vent-otto	twenty-eight
ventiquattro	twenty-four	ventinove	twenty-nine
venticinque	twenty-five

As seen below, cento (one hundred) does NOT change in the plural, but mille (one thousand) changes to mila and milione (one million) changes to milioni.

trenta	thirty	cento	one hundred
quaranta	forty	trecento	three hundred
cinquanta	fifty	mille	one thousand
sessanta	sixty	duemila	two thousand
settanta	seventy	un milione	one million
ottanta	eighty	sei milioni	six million
novanta	ninety	un miliardo	one billion

TIP: In Italian, a period is used instead of a comma in large numbers and writing them out in text can look somewhat confusing, as there is no spacing.

• English (36,918 = thirty-six thousand nine hundred eighteen)

• Italian (36.918 = trentaseimilanovecentodiciotto)

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ORDINAL NUMBERS
As in English, the Italian ordinal numbers are used to indicate order.

primo	first	sesto	sixth
secondo	second	settimo	seventh
terzo	third	ottimo	eighth
quarto	fourth	nono	ninth
quinto	fifth	decimo	tenth

In Italian however, they are treated as adjectives and must agree in gender with the noun they modify.

• Questo è nostra primo concerto. (This is our first concert.)
• Lei è la terza ragazza da sinistra. (She is the third girl from the left.)
  

Following decimo (tenth), the remaining ordinal numbers are formed by dropping the final vowel and adding -esimo. The only exceptions being numbers ending in -sei or -tre, which do NOT drop the final vowel.

• diciott –esimo (eighteenth)
• ventitre –esimo (twenty-third)
• quarantasei –esimo (forty-sixth)

AGE
The expression of someone’s age in Italian is formulated as a number of years the person “has”.

• Lei ha sedici anni. (She has sixteen years. → She is sixteen years old.)

MATH
Basic math in Italian is written out as follows:

• 10 x 9 = 90 (dieci per nove uguale novanta)
• 7 + 4 =11 (sette più quattro uguale undici)
• 16 / 2 = 8 (sedici diviso due uguale otto)
• 73 – 40 = 33 (settantatre meno quaranta uguale trentatre)

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VIDEO

(from YouTube)

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VOCABULARY

(from Duolingo)

numero	number
uno	one
prima	first
due	two
secondo	second
tre	three
terzo	third
quattro	four
quarto	fourth
cinque	five
quinta	fifth
sei	six
sesto	sixth
sette	seven
settimo	seventh
otto	eight
ottavo	eigth
nove	nine
nono	ninth
dieci	ten
decima	tenth
undici	eleven
dodici	twelve
tredici	thirteen
quattordici	fourteen
quindici	fifteen
sedici	sixteen
diciassette	seventeen
diciotto	eighteen
diciannove	nineteen
venti	twenty
trenta	thirty
trent'	thirty (preceding vowels)
quaranta	forty
quarant'	forty (preceding vowels)
cinquanta	fifty
sessanta	sixty
sessant'	sixty (preceding vowels)
settanta	seventy
settant'	seventy (preceding vowels)
ottanta	eighty
novanta	ninety
cento	one hundred
mille	one thousand
un milione	one million
un miliardo	one billion
ultimo	last
zero	zero
alcuno	some
doppio	double
molto	many
pochi	few
sufficiente	sufficient
tanto	much
abbastanza	enough
meno	less
metà	half
più	more
più grande	bigger

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