NUMERALS

This hand-out will teach you:

• Cardinal Numbers

• Numbers from zero to fifteen.
• Numbers from sixteen to nineteen.
• Numbres from twenty to twenty-nine.
• Numbers from thirty to ninety.

• Spanish Billion Vs. English Billon
• Ordinal Numbers.
• Fraction Numbers.
• Table of Cardinals, Ordinals, and Fractionals.

A.  CARDINALS

• Cardinal Numbers are the numbers we usually use. We use them to:
   

* Count:
 

* To indicate price:
 

• Be careful: In Spanish when refering to prices above one dollar, it is necessary to use the number with the word DOLARES, instead of dólar. Such thing is because an item costs more than one unit, which is plural, and the plural of dólar is dólares.

* To request something:
 

* To indicate dates in Spanish:
 

* To give an address:
 

* To indicate a phone number:
 

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• In Spanish, numbers from zero to fifteen are as follows:

• Only number one, UNO, agrees in gender with the noun it modifies:

• If UNOappears before a masculine noun, it will best shortened to un:

• Numbers from one to fifteen are written in one word.

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• Cardinal Numbers from 16-19 however, are formed by adding seis to nine to the word diez::

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• Numbers 20-29 are written by adding unoto nueve to veinte.

• Please note that the last vowel of the word veinte, e, is changed to i when it is conjugated with the numbers from uno to nueve.

• These numbers are written as one word.

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• The same rule applies for numbers between 30 and 90  although you need to add "y" as a connector. The numbers that end in zero do not need this connector.

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• One hundred in Spanish is CIENTO. Ciento becomes cien before a noun or before mil or millones.

• When the word CIENTO is not followed by a noun, it SHOULD NOT be written CIEN but CIENTO:

• Examples:
• 
  A) La calle ciento.
  B) Ciento por ciento.
  C) Más vale pájaro en mano que un ciento volando.

• The phrase "ciento por ciento", should not be changed for "cien por ciento",  nor "ciento por cien", nor "cien por cien".

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• Above 999, MIL must be used:

• Years and pages of books are not written with period in between.

• In countries such as Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Perú, the decimal sign is represented by the comma, instead of the period. So what it is written is English as 1,478.25, in Spanish is written as 1.428,25.

• Please note: This rule does not apply in countries such as Mexico since this one follows the NorthAmerican nomenclature.
   
• In Spanish, it is also valid to omit the period of thousand (1 428,25) whenever it does not have anything to do with a value title or does not create a fraudulent situation.

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• Un millón de (dos millones de, etc.) are used for millions.

• The word billion in English IS NOT EQUIVALENT to the word billion in Spanish. A billion is the United States has nine zeros, while the word billion in Spanish has twelve zeros, let's take a look:

• If in English we say:

We mean,
 
 

Bill Gates has 9.000'000.000

•   But if you say that Bill Gates has 9 billion in a Spanish speaking country, you are saying that:
   
   

  Bill Gates has 9"000.000'000.000

  •   (One apostrophy represents million, two apostrophies represent billion, and so forth.)

  
   

• So be careful!!! The equivalent word of BILLION in the US is MILLARDO in Spanish . 

• In Spanish,

• 1.000.000.000 = Millardo

• Here is a table with the some of the equivalencies among the US English, the British English, and the Spanish.

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B. ORDINAL NUMBERS

• Ordinal Numbers indicate order:

• Be careful: The most frequent error people make when they refer to numbers eleventh and twelfth, is to put decimo as the root:

* You only use décimo as a root when referring to number thirteenth (trece) and above.

• Numbers from primero to vigésimo are all written as one word:

• From then on, numbers will be written in two words:

• Cardinal numbers agree in gender with the noun they modify:

• The final o of primero and tercero is dropped before a masculine singular noun.

• Primero is used in dates for the first day of the month; cardinal numbers are then used for the rest of the days.

• Ordinal numbers are used with names of kings or queens up to décimo (a), tenth; beyond that, cardinal numbers are normally used

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C. NÚMEROS PARTITIVOS

• When something is divided into different pieces, each one of these pieces receive a name which are  represented by "Números Partitivos".

• These numbers are easy to memorize because their ending is -avo, except for the first ten.

* Note that numbers from four (cuarto) to ten (décimo) are the same as "Ordinales". Do not get confuse  when to use what. If for example, you cut a pizza in four, each piece is a fourth (un cuarto) of pizza. And if your teacher tells you to go over chapter four, he/she means you have to go over "capítulo cuarto".

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• Here is a table that hopefully will help you to understand and learn cardinals, ordinals, and partitivos.

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Created by Silvana Mendez
Foreign Language Lab / University of Houston