Numbers in Italian are called numeri. There are a few rules related to numbers. We are going to explain and practice with some examples. Listen to the sound and pronunciation of Italian numbers
In Italian, the old saying dare i numeri, literally, “giving the numbers” means to go crazy.
Of course there’s nothing as rational as numbers to measure and weigh the reality of things. We are going to study the numeri cardinali, Italian numbers (uno due tre etc…). Listen to the correct pronunciation and repeat.
Let’s get started, cominciamo!
Da zero a nove – zero to nine
Pretty straight forward, as it happens in every language, Italian numbers one to ten are unique and you need to learn them by heart.
- 0 – zero
- 1 – uno
- 2 – due
- 3 – tre
- 4 – quattro
- 5 – cinque
- 6 – sei
- 7 – sette
- 8 – otto
- 9 – nove
Da dieci a diciannove – ten to nineteen
Italian numbers ten to nineteen are different. Again, you have to memorise them. They all have the word “…dici” (…teen) either at the beginning or at the end of the number.
Very common mistake, do not confuse 16 and 17.
- 10 – dieci
- 11 – undici
- 12 – dodici
- 13 – tredici
- 14 – quattordici
- 15 – quindici
- 16 – sedici
- 17 – diciassette
- 18 – diciotto
- 19 – diciannove
Da venti a ventinove – twenty to twenty-nine
From now on, Italian numbers up to 100 are predictable. The formula is: multiple of ten + unit. For example 24 is venti + quattro = ventiquattro. See the multiples of ten below and apply the rules.
Please note that 1 and 8 combined with multiples of ten, “eat” the vowel before —> ventuno, ventotto; trentuno, trentotto; quarantuno, quarantotto; cinquantuno, cinquantotto and so on (and not ventiuno, ventiotto; trentauno, trentaotto etc).
- 20 – venti
- 21 – ventuno
- 22 – ventidue
- 23 – ventitré
- 24 – ventiquattro
- 25 – venticinque
- 26 – ventisei
- 27 – ventisette
- 28 – ventotto
- 29 – ventinove
Multipli di dieci – Multiples of ten
Get rid of the last vowel and add a suffix. So we have venti, trenta, and then quaranta, cinquanta …anta. When someone turns 40 years old, you can make fun of them saying “welcome to the …anta”, benvenuto/a negli “…anta”.
- 20 – venti
- 30 – trenta
- 40 – quaranta
- 50 – cinquanta
- 60 – sessanta
- 70 – settanta
- 80 – ottanta
- 90 – novanta
Da cento in poi – Over a hundred
One hundred is “cento”, not hard to remember if you are an English speaker (century, cent etc…). We don’t say “un cento”, but just “cento”. Then you have 200 duecento, 300 trecento and so on.
Mille is singular, all its multiples are “–mila”. Please note, one billion in Italian is un miliardo. In this case, the English billion is an exception. In other languages the equivalent translation of miliardo is common (French, Spanish, German, Russian…).
- 100 – cento
- 200 – duecento
- 1000 – mille
- 2000 – duemila
- 10.000 – diecimila
- 100.000 – centomila
- 1.000.000 – un milione
- 2.000.000 – due milioni
- 1.000.000.000 – un miliardo
Quanti anni hai? Ho — anni
You know enough to put together all the numbers you want. Let’s start with a simple question. How old are you?
Differently from English, In Italian you “have” years, you are not xx years old. That’s an interesting way to imagine one’s age, as if you own the time you have used.
Anyhow, the correct way to ask someone’s age is:
- Quanti anni hai? (“Quanti anni ha?” With the formal Lei)
- Ho 47 anni.
I hope this lesson about numbers was useful. Alla prossima!
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