Numbers in Italian
Do you know how Italian Numbers work?
If you have just started your journey in the Italian language, Italian numbers are one of the very first topics you learn.
Knowing how to deal with numbers is essential to have a basic conversation, be able to tell your age, give your address and telephone number.
Also, if you can understand and use them, going shopping will be a piece of cake!
Especially if you travel to small towns in Italy, being able to use numbers will make you feel at ease in local bars and restaurant where people often can’t speak English fluently.
So let’s go through and see how Italian numbers work: we start with numbers from 0 to 20!
| Number | Word |
| 0 | Zero |
| 1 | Uno |
| 2 | Due |
| 3 | Tre |
| 4 | Quattro |
| 5 | Cinque |
| 6 | Sei |
| 7 | Sette |
| 8 | Otto |
| 9 | Nove |
| 10 | Dieci |
| 11 | Undici |
| 12 | Dodici |
| 13 | Tredici |
| 14 | Quattordici |
| 15 | Quindici |
| 16 | Sedici |
| 17 | Diciassette |
| 18 | Diciotto |
| 19 | Diciannove |
| 20 | Venti |
As you can see, numbers up to 20 are all quite different and they don’t follow any patterns: that is why it is necessary to make a little effort to memorize them.
Once you reach 20 it gets much easier!
From now on you can apply a simple rule. Let’s see!
| Number | Word |
| 21 | Ventuno |
| 22 | Ventidue |
| 23 | Ventitre |
| 24 | Ventiquattro |
| 25 | Venticinque |
| 26 | Ventisei |
| 27 | Ventisette |
| 28 | Ventotto |
| 29 | Ventinove |
| 30 | Trenta |
Basically we can just add the first 9 numbers to 20 in order to reach number 30.
Easy isn’t it?
You can apply the same rule after 30, so you just need to remember the tens.
| Number | Word |
| 40 | Quaranta |
| 50 | Cinquanta |
| 60 | Sessanta |
| 70 | Settanta |
| 80 | Ottanta |
| 90 | Novanta |
| 100 | Cento |
After 100, again it is just about adding other numbers, for example 110 is “centodieci“, or 157 is “centocinquantasette” and so on.
Time to move on!
| Number | Word |
| 200 | Duecento |
| 300 | Trecento |
| 400 | Quattrocento |
| 500 | Cinquecento |
| 600 | Seicento |
| 700 | Settecento |
| 800 | Ottocento |
| 900 | Novecento |
What happens with thousands?
| Number | Word |
| 1000 | Mille |
| 2000 | Duemila |
| 3000 | Tremila |
| 4000 | Quattromila |
| 5000 | Cinquemila |
| 6000 | Seimila |
| 7000 | Settemila |
| 8000 | Ottomila |
| 9000 | Novemila |
| 10.000 | Diecimila |
After 1000 (Mille), you can easily notice what the pattern is: you can form any numbers adding -mila.
How would 134.560 be? Well…centotrentaquattromilacinquecentosessanta!
It might seem too long, but if you start counting from the left it won’t be difficult!
And if you want to use big numbers, you may need 1.000.000, which in Italian is “un milione” or 1.000.000.000, “un miliardo“.
Milione and miliardo become plural when you have, for example, 3.000.000 “tre milioni“, or 5.000.000.000 “cinque miliardi“.
If you are learning Italian in London at Happy Languages, these contents will be covered during the Beginner 1 course, check it out!
Now practice with any numbers you can think of and get more confident!
If you enjoy video tutorials, check our Youtube Channel
Questions
