Los Números

Los Números 

Click on the link to practise Numbers from 1 to 50

Cardinal Numbers in Spanish

Cardinal numbers are used in Spanish for:
Counting things:

• Tengo tres hermanas. (I have three sisters)
• Marzo tiene treinta y un días. (March has 31 days)

Saying how old someone is:
Notice how in Spanish you use the verb TENER when you are giving your age.

• Tengo doce años. (I am 12 years old)
• Mi hermano tiene nueve años. (My brother is 9 years old)

Giving a date in Spanish
Unlike in English were ordinal numbers are used, in Spanish you use cardinal numbers when giving a date EXCEPT when we talk about the first day of the month (see ordinal numbers further below).

• Mi cumpleaños es el veintisiete de enero (27)
• El día nacional de Chile es el dieciocho de septiembre (18)

Giving a telephone number in Spanish:

• Mi número de teléfono es dos - siete - ocho - nueve - cero - uno - tres - cinco.
  (My phone number is 2789-0135)

When you are giving telephone numbers in Spanish you have two options. First is to say each number one by one (dos - dos - seis - tres - cuatro - ocho - uno - cinco; 2-2-6-3-4-8-1-5) or you can group the numbers in pairs (veintidós, sesenta y tres, cuarenta y ocho, quince; 22 63 48 15)

Speaking about a specific year:

• Ella nació en mil novecientos noventa y ocho
  (She was born in 1998).
• América fue descubierta en el año mil cuatrocientos noventa y dos
  (America was discovered in 1492).

Notice how in Spanish you don't divide the year into two parts like in English. You say the year as one long number. Ejemplo: Mil novecientos setenta y dos (1972); Dos mil quince (2015).

Clink on the link to practise numbers to treinta (30)

Now, see if you can understand this joke. I have given a hint below.

Un chiste espanol:      Qué le dice un pez a otro pez?     

                                    Nada.

 

HINT: One meaning of Nadar = to swim


Click on this link to practise saying the numbers in Spanish.
Just move the cursor over the number to hear the pronunciation.

Ok, now you are ready for numbers to cien (100)