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: