🔍 In short. Italian approximate numbers are a tidy little family of nouns that let you say “about twenty”, “around fifty”, “roughly a hundred” in one word. Una ventina means about twenty, una trentina about thirty, un centinaio about a hundred, un migliaio about a thousand. Plural centinaia and migliaia cover English “hundreds” and “thousands”. When you don’t want a noun and just need a vague figure, Italian uses circa, all’incirca, suppergiù, or even sulle before the price. This A2 guide covers each form, the gender quirks of migliaio, the singular-or-plural verb question, and a Slow Food dialogue set in Bra.
Italians round numbers more than English speakers do. In a market, in an office, at the train station, you’ll hear una ventina di clienti, un centinaio di euro, una decina di minuti dozens of times a day. Learn the italian approximate numbers and you sound less like a textbook and more like someone who’s been in the country long enough to stop counting exactly. The italian approximate numbers also save you from over-precise translations: where English says “twenty people came”, Italian will often round to una ventina di persone è venuta, which feels more natural and less clinical.
Cosa impareremo oggi
👆🏻 Jump to section
- The family of italian approximate numbers
- Una ventina, una trentina: the -ina set
- Un centinaio, un migliaio: hundred and thousand
- Centinaia and migliaia: the plural quirk
- Un paio, una decina, una dozzina, una quindicina
- Singular noun, plural verb? The agreement puzzle
- Circa, all’incirca, suppergiù: rounding without a noun
- Un trenta euro: the article-before-number trick
- Cheat sheet: italian approximate numbers
- Three common mistakes
- Dialogue at the Slow Food office in Bra
- Frequently asked questions
- Related guides
The family of italian approximate numbers
Walk into the Slow Food office in Bra on a Monday morning and someone will tell you, before you’ve even sat down, that una ventina di delegati arrived from France over the weekend and un centinaio di iscrizioni are still waiting to be processed. Italians like to round, and the italian approximate numbers are the everyday tool for doing it.
The family of italian approximate numbers is small and tidy. From decina (ten-ish) up to novantina (ninety-ish), the suffix is always -ina on the feminine form of the cardinal: venti becomes ventina, trenta becomes trentina, and so on. For one hundred and one thousand, the italian approximate numbers switch to a different shape: un centinaio, un migliaio. Below ten you have un paio for two and una decina for ten itself.
- Una ventina di delegati arrivano lunedì dalla Francia.
About twenty delegates are arriving on Monday from France. - Per la cena ho prenotato un tavolo per una decina di persone.
For dinner I booked a table for about ten people. - La sala conferenze contiene un centinaio di posti a sedere.
The conference room holds about a hundred seats.
Three points to keep in mind from the start. First, these are nouns, not numbers: they take an article (una ventina, un centinaio) and they are followed by di + plural noun. Second, the meaning is “approximately X”, not exactly X. Una ventina di delegati might be eighteen, twenty-two, twenty-four; the point is “around twenty”. Third, the italian approximate numbers in the -ina series are all feminine; centinaio and migliaio are masculine in the singular and switch to feminine in the plural, which catches every learner once.
Una ventina, una trentina: the -ina set
The -ina set is the most useful slice of the italian approximate numbers, because rounding by tens is what Italian speakers do most often. Of all the italian approximate numbers, the -ina forms appear daily in shops, offices, and conversations about age. The pattern is the same all the way through: take the cardinal, knock off the final vowel, glue on -ina. Venti → ventina. Trenta → trentina. Quaranta → quarantina. The article is always una because every form is feminine.
| Number | Approximate form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | una decina | about ten |
| 12 | una dozzina | about a dozen |
| 15 | una quindicina | about fifteen, a fortnight |
| 20 | una ventina | about twenty |
| 30 | una trentina | about thirty |
| 40 | una quarantina | about forty |
| 50 | una cinquantina | about fifty |
| 60 | una sessantina | about sixty |
| 70 | una settantina | about seventy |
| 80 | un’ottantina | about eighty |
| 90 | una novantina | about ninety |
- Sul tavolo della degustazione ci sono una trentina di formaggi diversi.
On the tasting table there are about thirty different cheeses. - Una quarantina di studenti dell’Università di Scienze Gastronomiche è arrivata ieri.
About forty students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences arrived yesterday. - Gianna avrà una cinquantina d’anni.
Gianna must be about fifty. - Starò una quindicina di giorni a Bra.
I’ll be in Bra for about a fortnight.
Notice the last one. Una quindicina di giorni is the Italian way of saying “two weeks” or “a fortnight”: fifteen days, give or take. This is a real shortcut that Italian uses all the time, especially for holidays, work trips, deadlines. Saying quindici giorni sounds odd in this context; una quindicina di giorni is the natural choice.
🔍 Age: una ventina d’anni. When you’re estimating someone’s age, the italian approximate numbers are almost unavoidable. Avrà una ventina d’anni (about twenty), una trentina d’anni (about thirty), una quarantina d’anni (about forty). Note the contraction: di anni becomes d’anni for fluency. Saying ha venti anni commits to exactly twenty; ha una ventina d’anni leaves a polite margin.
Un centinaio, un migliaio: hundred and thousand
For one hundred and one thousand, the italian approximate numbers leave the -ina pattern behind and use two different shapes: centinaio from cento, and migliaio from mille. Both italian approximate numbers here are masculine singular, take un as their article, and are followed by di + noun.
- Tarso conosce un centinaio di produttori di vino del Roero.
Tarso knows about a hundred wine producers from the Roero area. - La biblioteca raccoglie un migliaio di volumi di gastronomia.
The library holds about a thousand volumes on gastronomy. - Ho ricevuto un centinaio di lettere dopo l’articolo.
I received about a hundred letters after the article.
The crucial nuance: un centinaio is not the same as cento. Cento means exactly one hundred; un centinaio means roughly a hundred, which could be ninety or a hundred and ten. The same goes for un migliaio versus mille. In writing or speech where the count matters (a bill, a school register, an inventory), use the cardinal. Where the figure is rounded, switch to the italian approximate numbers.
One more sense to keep in mind. With un centinaio and un migliaio, the meaning sometimes drifts from “about a hundred / thousand” toward simply “lots”, “loads”. Ho un migliaio di cose da fare rarely means “exactly a thousand”; it means “tons of things”. Italians use centinaia and migliaia in the same vague-many sense, the way English uses “hundreds” or “thousands” with no count attached. This vague-many use is the second life of the italian approximate numbers, alongside their primary rounding job.
Centinaia and migliaia: the plural quirk
Here is the only quirk in the system that catches every learner once. Singular centinaio and migliaio are masculine: un centinaio, un migliaio. In the plural they become feminine: le centinaia, le migliaia. The forms end in -a (looking suspiciously like a feminine singular) but they are plural and they take feminine agreement.
- Quest’anno abbiamo ricevuto migliaia di iscrizioni dall’estero.
This year we received thousands of registrations from abroad. - Le piazze del centro si sono riempite di centinaia di visitatori.
The squares in the centre filled up with hundreds of visitors. - Tante migliaia di persone hanno firmato la petizione.
Many thousands of people signed the petition. - Le ultime due centinaia di copie sono in deposito.
The last two hundred-or-so copies are in storage.
The gender swap has a respectable Latin pedigree: migliaio comes from a Latin neuter noun miliarium whose plural ended in -a, and Italian read that -a as feminine. The same applies to a small club of nouns that includes uovo (uova), paio (paia), riso (risa, in the “laughs” sense). You don’t need to memorise the etymology; you need to remember that centinaia and migliaia behave like feminine plurals: le centinaia, tante migliaia, due centinaia di sedie.
🎯 Mini-task #1. Pick the italian approximate number that fits.
- Sono arrivati ___ (about thirty) volontari per il Salone del Gusto.
- Tarso ha ordinato ___ (about a dozen) bottiglie di Barolo.
- La sala è grande, ci stanno ___ (about a hundred) persone.
- Resterò a Bra ___ (about a fortnight) giorni.
- L’evento attira ogni anno ___ (thousands) di visitatori.
- Mancano ancora ___ (a couple) di sedie.
👉 Show answers
1. una trentina di · 2. una dozzina di · 3. un centinaio di · 4. una quindicina di · 5. migliaia · 6. un paio
Un paio, una decina, una dozzina, una quindicina
Below twenty, the italian approximate numbers behave in a slightly different way: these particular italian approximate numbers often refer to a fixed unit, but they keep the rounded sense too. Un paio means “a pair” (exactly two) and also “a couple” (two or three, vague). Una dozzina means a dozen (exactly twelve) and also “about a dozen”. Una quindicina means “about fifteen” and is the standard way to say “a fortnight” (two weeks).
- Mancano un paio di sedie nella sala B.
A couple of chairs are missing in room B. - Torno tra un paio di giorni.
I’ll be back in a couple of days. - Ho comprato una dozzina di uova fresche al mercato.
I bought a dozen fresh eggs at the market. - Una decina di colleghi è andata a pranzo con noi.
About ten colleagues went to lunch with us. - La conferenza dura una quindicina di minuti.
The talk lasts about fifteen minutes.
How exact is each one? Context decides. At a kitchen counter, una dozzina di uova almost always means exactly twelve, because eggs are sold by the box of twelve. In a conversation about colleagues at lunch, una decina di colleghi means around ten: nobody counted. Un paio swings the most: at a shoe shop it means exactly two shoes; in everyday speech it means “two or three, not many”. The italian approximate numbers below twenty share this double life: precise count in commercial contexts, rounded estimate in conversation.
Singular noun, plural verb? The agreement puzzle
This is the most useful detail to know about the italian approximate numbers, and it’s the one most textbooks skip. Una ventina, un centinaio, un migliaio are all grammatically singular nouns. Strict grammar therefore wants a singular verb: una ventina di delegati arriva lunedì. But everyday Italian very often uses a plural verb, agreeing with the people or things actually counted: una ventina di delegati arrivano lunedì. Both are correct; the second is more common in speech.
- Al matrimonio c’era un centinaio di invitati. (strict grammatical agreement, singular verb)
- Al matrimonio c’erano un centinaio di invitati. (agreement by sense, plural verb)
- Una quarantina di studenti è arrivata ieri. (strict)
- Una quarantina di studenti sono arrivati ieri. (by sense, more colloquial)
Pick the one you prefer; you’ll hear both. In writing, the singular feels slightly more formal; in conversation, the plural is everywhere. The same swing applies to other collective nouns like la maggioranza, un gruppo, una percentuale: strict singular vs natural plural. Treccani notes both forms as acceptable, with the plural described as concordanza a senso (agreement by sense). For the italian approximate numbers specifically, native speakers swing toward the plural verb whenever the noun after di is concrete and countable (people, sheep, cars, bottles); they lean toward the singular when the noun is abstract or mass-like.
Circa, all’incirca, suppergiù: rounding without a noun
When you want to keep the cardinal number and just add “about” in front of it, the italian approximate numbers give way to a small set of adverbs. The everyday three are circa, all’incirca, and suppergiù. A more colloquial variant is più o meno. They all sit before the number and leave it unchanged. Think of these adverbs as the second branch of the italian approximate numbers system: the first branch is nouns (ventina, centinaio, migliaio), the second is adverbs (circa, suppergiù). Together they cover every rounding situation Italian needs.
- La cena costa circa quaranta euro a persona.
Dinner costs about forty euros per person. - Saremo all’incirca trenta a tavola.
We’ll be roughly thirty at the table. - La biblioteca apre suppergiù alle nove e mezza.
The library opens roughly at half past nine. - Costerà più o meno cento euro.
It’ll cost more or less a hundred euros. - Avrà circa cinquant’anni il signore con la giacca verde.
The gentleman in the green jacket must be about fifty.
For prices and measures, Italian has another neat shortcut: the preposition su + definite article + number. Sulle quindici euro means “around fifteen euros”; sui trenta chilometri means “around thirty kilometres”; sui trent’anni means “around thirty years old”. Intorno ai trenta euro works the same way. Both are common in shops, restaurants, train stations.
- Il volume costa sui quindici euro in libreria.
The book costs around fifteen euros at the bookshop. - Suppergiù tre etti di Castelmagno, per favore.
Roughly three hundred grams of Castelmagno, please. - Bra dista intorno ai sessanta chilometri da Torino.
Bra is about sixty kilometres from Turin.
Un trenta euro: the article-before-number trick
Here is a small detail of spoken Italian that surprises learners: putting the indefinite article un in front of a cardinal number turns it into an approximate figure. Costerà un trenta euro means “it’ll cost about thirty euros”. Avrà un quaranta anni means “he must be about forty”. Disterà un cento chilometri means “it must be about a hundred kilometres away”. The un here is not the article in front of uno; it’s a vague “around”, a quick alternative to the nominal italian approximate numbers when the speaker wants to keep the cardinal intact.
- Costerà un trecento euro la cena di gala.
The gala dinner will cost around three hundred euros. - Avrà un cinquant’anni la responsabile della biblioteca.
The library manager must be about fifty. - La sala B avrà un trenta posti.
Room B must hold about thirty seats.
One more trick. When two numbers stand side by side without a conjunction, the meaning is “X or Y, give or take”: avrà sedici diciassette anni (“he must be sixteen or seventeen”); costerà due trecento euro (“it’ll cost two hundred or three hundred euros”). In writing, you can link them with a hyphen: due-trecento euro. It’s a quick, colloquial way to round without a noun and without an adverb.
🎯 Mini-task #2. Translate into natural Italian, choosing the most idiomatic form.
- About forty people came to the tasting.
- The library holds about a thousand volumes.
- Hundreds of registrations are still waiting.
- The lesson lasts about fifteen minutes.
- It’ll cost around fifty euros.
- He must be about sixty.
👉 Show answers
1. Una quarantina di persone sono venute alla degustazione. · 2. La biblioteca raccoglie un migliaio di volumi. · 3. Centinaia di iscrizioni sono ancora in attesa. · 4. La lezione dura una quindicina di minuti. · 5. Costerà sui cinquanta euro / circa cinquanta euro. · 6. Avrà una sessantina d’anni / avrà un sessant’anni.
Cheat sheet: italian approximate numbers
The whole system on one page. Keep it open until the italian approximate numbers feel automatic.
| Form | Use | Italian example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| una decina di | around 10 | una decina di colleghi | about ten colleagues |
| una dozzina di | a dozen, ~12 | una dozzina di uova | a dozen eggs |
| una quindicina di | ~15, a fortnight | una quindicina di giorni | about two weeks |
| una ventina di | around 20 | una ventina di delegati | about twenty delegates |
| una trentina di | around 30 | una trentina di formaggi | about thirty cheeses |
| una quarantina di | around 40 | una quarantina di anni | about forty years |
| un paio di | a couple, 2-3 | un paio di giorni | a couple of days |
| un centinaio di | around 100 | un centinaio di posti | about a hundred seats |
| un migliaio di | around 1000 | un migliaio di volumi | about a thousand volumes |
| centinaia di (fem. pl.) | hundreds of | centinaia di visitatori | hundreds of visitors |
| migliaia di (fem. pl.) | thousands of | migliaia di iscrizioni | thousands of registrations |
| circa + number | about | circa quaranta euro | about forty euros |
| all’incirca + number | roughly | all’incirca trenta a tavola | roughly thirty at the table |
| suppergiù + number | roughly | suppergiù alle nove | roughly at nine |
| più o meno + number | more or less | più o meno cento euro | more or less a hundred |
| sui / sulle + number | around (price, age, distance) | sui quindici euro | around fifteen euros |
| intorno ai + number | around | intorno ai sessanta km | around sixty km |
| un + number | colloquial “about” | un trenta euro | about thirty euros |
| X Y juxtaposed | X or Y | sedici diciassette anni | sixteen or seventeen years |
Three common mistakes
Three slips with the italian approximate numbers flag an A2 sentence as written by a learner. Fixing them is fast.
Mistake 1. Treating centinaia and migliaia as masculine. Wrong: i centinaia di visitatori. Correct: le centinaia di visitatori, tante migliaia di persone. The plurals end in -a and take feminine agreement, even though the singulars are masculine.
Mistake 2. Forgetting di after the italian approximate numbers. Wrong: una ventina delegati. Correct: una ventina di delegati, un centinaio di posti, migliaia di iscrizioni. The di + noun link is obligatory.
Mistake 3. Mixing up cento and un centinaio. Cento means exactly one hundred and goes directly before the noun: cento posti. Un centinaio means approximately one hundred and needs di: un centinaio di posti. Same difference between mille (exactly 1000, direct) and un migliaio di (about 1000, with di). The italian approximate numbers are never interchangeable with the matching cardinal: switching one for the other changes the precision of the sentence.
Dialogue at the Slow Food office in Bra
Bra, a small town in Piemonte, is the international home of Slow Food and of the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Gianna works at the registration desk for the Salone del Gusto; Tarso volunteers at the gastronomic library next door. They cross paths on a Monday morning while final preparations are under way. Watch the italian approximate numbers come up in nearly every exchange.
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Buongiorno Tarso, com’è andata la sistemazione della biblioteca?
Good morning Tarso, how did the library set-up go?
👨🏾 Tarso: Bene, abbiamo finito ieri sera. Sono entrati un migliaio di volumi nuovi, tutti sul vino del Roero.
Good, we finished yesterday evening. About a thousand new volumes came in, all on Roero wines.
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Mille libri solo sul vino?
A thousand books just on wine?
👨🏾 Tarso: Un migliaio, suppergiù. Non li ho contati uno per uno. E tu, come va con le iscrizioni?
About a thousand, give or take. I didn’t count them one by one. And you, how’s it going with the registrations?
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Una follia. Ne abbiamo già una ventina solo per il laboratorio sui formaggi d’alpeggio. E arriveranno una trentina di delegati francesi nel pomeriggio.
It’s mad. We already have about twenty just for the alpine cheese workshop. And about thirty French delegates are arriving in the afternoon.
👨🏾 Tarso: Hai prenotato gli hotel?
Did you book the hotels?
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Una quindicina di camere all’Albergo dell’Agenzia, le altre alle Acacie. Costano sui ottanta euro a notte, colazione inclusa.
About fifteen rooms at the Albergo dell’Agenzia, the others at the Acacie. They cost around eighty euros a night, breakfast included.
👨🏾 Tarso: E la cena di apertura?
And the opening dinner?
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Tavolo per un centinaio di persone al ristorante della Banca del Vino. Avrà un trenta tagli di formaggio e un paio di vini per portata.
A table for about a hundred people at the Banca del Vino restaurant. There’ll be about thirty cheese cuts and a couple of wines per course.
👨🏾 Tarso: Avrai bisogno di una mano in sala?
Will you need a hand in the room?
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Magari. Sono arrivata stamattina con una quarantina di mail da smistare e ancora non le ho aperte tutte.
If only. I came in this morning with about forty emails to sort and I still haven’t opened them all.
👨🏾 Tarso: Allora passo dopo pranzo, intorno alle due.
Then I’ll come by after lunch, around two.
👱🏼♀️ Gianna: Grazie. Ah, quasi dimenticavo: chiamano dall’università, vogliono mandare una decina di studenti come volontari.
Thanks. Oh, I almost forgot: the university called, they want to send about ten students as volunteers.
Count the italian approximate numbers in the dialogue: un migliaio, un migliaio, suppergiù, una ventina, una trentina, una quindicina, sulle ottanta, un centinaio, un trenta, un paio, una quarantina, intorno alle due, una decina. A single Monday morning at the Slow Food office exercises every form in the family. The italian approximate numbers are not decorative; they are how Italians actually talk about quantities, prices, ages, distances, deadlines.
🎯 Mini-challenge. Describe a real-life event you organised (a dinner, a meeting, a trip) in five sentences. Use at least one form from each group: one -ina (ventina, trentina, etc.), one between un centinaio and un migliaio, one plural in centinaia / migliaia, one adverb (circa, suppergiù, all’incirca, sulle), and one un paio or una decina. Read it out loud once.
Test your understanding
Take the quiz below to test what you’ve learned about the italian approximate numbers.
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Frequently asked questions
Six questions about the italian approximate numbers come up in every A2 cohort. The answers below draw on real classroom usage and on the Treccani vocabolario entry on centinaio.
What is the difference between cento and un centinaio?
Cento means exactly one hundred and goes directly before the noun: cento posti, cento euro, cento persone. Un centinaio means approximately one hundred and needs di before the noun: un centinaio di posti, un centinaio di euro, un centinaio di persone. The same split applies to mille (exactly 1000) and un migliaio di (about 1000). Use the cardinal when the count matters; use the italian approximate numbers when the figure is rounded.
Why is migliaio masculine but migliaia feminine?
Migliaio comes from a Latin neuter noun, miliarium, whose plural ended in -a (miliaria). Italian inherited the -a plural and read it as feminine, even though the singular stayed masculine. The same gender swap affects a small group of nouns: uovo / uova, paio / paia, centinaio / centinaia, and (in the laughs sense) riso / risa. You say un migliaio di persone but le migliaia di persone, tante migliaia di copie.
Is una ventina exactly twenty?
No. Una ventina means approximately twenty: it could be eighteen, twenty-two, twenty-five, the point is around twenty. The same goes for all the -ina forms (trentina, quarantina, cinquantina, etc.). If you need to be precise, use the cardinal venti, trenta, quaranta. If you want the polite margin of an estimate, use the italian approximate numbers. One exception that often refers to exactly its number is una dozzina di uova: eggs are sold by the box of twelve, so the count is usually exact.
Singular or plural verb with un centinaio di persone?
Both are acceptable. Strict grammatical agreement keeps the verb singular, because un centinaio is a grammatically singular noun: al matrimonio c’era un centinaio di invitati. Agreement by sense puts the verb in the plural, agreeing with the people actually counted: al matrimonio c’erano un centinaio di invitati. The plural is more common in everyday speech; the singular sounds slightly more formal. The same swing applies to una ventina di delegati arriva / arrivano, una quarantina di studenti è arrivata / sono arrivati.
What is the difference between circa, all’incirca, and suppergiù?
All three mean about, roughly, more or less, and they all sit in front of a cardinal number without changing it. Circa is the most neutral and works in any register: la cena costa circa quaranta euro. All’incirca feels slightly more formal or written: saremo all’incirca trenta a tavola. Suppergiù is the most colloquial and very common in spoken Italian: la biblioteca apre suppergiù alle nove e mezza. A fourth option, più o meno, is the most everyday of all and translates directly as more or less. For prices, ages, distances, Italian also uses sui / sulle + number (sui quindici euro, sui trent’anni) and intorno ai + number (intorno ai sessanta chilometri).
Can I say un dieci euro or un venti minuti to mean about ten or twenty?
Yes, this is a real colloquial pattern. Putting the indefinite article un in front of a cardinal number turns it into an approximate figure: costerà un trenta euro (about thirty euros), avrà un quarant’anni (about forty years old), disterà un cento chilometri (about a hundred km). The un here is not the article in front of uno, it’s a vague around. It’s casual speech, not formal writing, but you’ll hear it constantly. Two cardinals side by side without a conjunction work the same way: avrà sedici diciassette anni (he must be sixteen or seventeen), costerà due-trecento euro (it’ll cost two or three hundred euros).
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Related guides
Three guides that pair with the italian approximate numbers, plus an institutional reference on centinaio. The italian approximate numbers fit into the wider numerals family covered by these companion posts.
- Italian Numbers: Uno, Zero, Mille, Milione: the A1 foundation for cardinals, with uno, mille, milione di.
- Italian Quattro Chiacchiere, Mille Grazie: Vague Numbers: how small cardinals stop counting and become idiomatic emphasis.
- Italian A Due A Due, Tre Per Ciascuno: ‘Each’ Numbers: the sibling family of shared-out and per-unit number patterns.
- Treccani: centinaio: institutional entry on centinaio, with usage notes on the singular vs plural verb agreement.
