Ch 2 · Lesson 41Spanish · Chapter 2 · Lesson 41 · Grammar primer
How Spanish numbers work: up to 29
to by heart, then Spanish adds: is ten and six, veintidós twenty and two, each written as one word.
The short version
Veintidós is one word, is three
Why?Hide
Spanish fuses sixteen to nineteen and twenty-one to twenty-nine into single words: , veintidós, veintiocho. From thirty-one the fusing stops and every number is tens, y, units. The y only ever joins tens to units, so 101 is , never .
The whole system on one screen
| Range | How it is built | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 15 | a word of its own | |
| 16 to 19 | ten + unit, one word | |
| 20 to 29 | veinti + unit, one word | veintidós (22) |
| 30 to 99 | ten + y + unit | (32) |
| 100 to 199 | , or + more | (101) |
| 200 to 900 | unit + -, agrees | doscientas (200, f.) |
| 1,000 up | , then | (2,000) |
Blue is the ten, orange the unit, and the highlighter marks the joining piece.
The words you learn by heart: cero to quince
| 0 to 3 | 4 to 7 | 8 to 11 | 12 to 15 |
|---|---|---|---|
0 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
1 | 5 | 9 | 13 |
2 | 6 | 10 | 14 |
3 | 7 | 11 | 15 |
0
1
2
3
4
5
These sixteen have no logic worth knowing: learn them. (11) is the trap, because it looks like the English word.
.- I'm eleven..- That's twelve euros.
Sixteen to nineteen: ten and six, as one word
From sixteen, Spanish starts adding. Sixteen is ten and six, squeezed into one word:
| Number | Built from | Written |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | | |
| 17 | | |
| 18 | | |
| 19 | | |
The z of becomes c, and the y becomes i. takes an accent because the stress falls on the last syllable of a word ending in s:
.- My sister is sixteen.
Twenty to twenty-nine: one word again
fuses the same way, with its final e turning into i:
| 21 to 23 | 24 to 26 | 27 to 29 |
|---|---|---|
veintiuno | veinticuatro | veintisiete |
veintidós | | veintiocho |
veintitrés | veintiséis | veintinueve |
Three carry an accent, the ones ending in a stressed syllable with an s: veintidós, veintitrés and veintiséis. With , and veintiún (the short form before a masculine noun), that is the whole accent family.
veintidós .- I'm twenty-two.
Going further: Thirty to ninety-nine: the y rule and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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Lesson 41 of 50 in this chapter