How Italian numbers are built: zero to nineteen

Italian numbers are built from about thirty words and a handful of joining rules: learn zero to nineteen, the tens and cento, and everything up to a million follows. Dates add one twist, a cardinal number for every day except the first. Numbers and dates are Foundation and Higher on the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Italian specification (1IN0).

The whole system on one screen

Zero to ten

Every phone number, price and time is made of these. Learn them cold, in order and out of order.

12345678910

1. 1uno
2. 2due
3. 3tre
4. 4quattro
5. 5cinque
6. 6sei
7. 7sette
8. 8otto
9. 9nove
10. 10dieci

Count the apples: one to ten, each a word of its own.

sei is the one to watch in reading: the same spelling is six and you are. Sei qui? is are you here?, and sei anni is six years. A number sits next to a noun, the verb next to a subject.

The teens: the order flips at seventeen

Eleven to sixteen put the unit first and end in -dici, a worn-down dieci. The units are worn down too, so learn these six as words. From seventeen the ten comes first. diciassette and diciannove add an a and double the consonant at the join; diciotto simply runs the vowels together.

• Ho sedici anni. - I'm sixteen.
• Ho diciassette anni. - I'm seventeen.