Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to count from 0 to 100 in Spanish and use numbers in basic everyday contexts like age and quantity.

Lesson Explanation

Numbers 0-10:

cero 0   uno 1   dos 2   tres 3   cuatro 4
cinco 5  seis 6  siete 7  ocho 8  nueve 9  diez 10

Numbers 11-20 are mostly single fused words, not built the way English “thirteen, fourteen…” pattern suggests:

once 11   doce 12   trece 13   catorce 14   quince 15
dieciséis 16   diecisiete 17   dieciocho 18   diecinueve 19   veinte 20

From 16-19, notice the genuinely useful pattern: diez y seis (“ten and six”) fused into dieciséis. This same “tens + y + ones” pattern continues from 21 onward, but from 21-29 it is a single fused word again (veintiuno), while from 31 upward the three pieces stay as separate words:

veintiuno 21   veintidós 22   treinta 30   treinta y uno 31
cuarenta 40   cincuenta 50   sesenta 60   setenta 70
ochenta 80   noventa 90   cien 100

A genuinely important detail: uno shortens to un before a masculine noun, and becomes una before a feminine noun — un libro (one book) vs. una mesa (one table). This same masculine/feminine agreement pattern will be covered in full in Part 1, Lesson 4.

Practice Questions