Números 1 – 20

En mi piso hay tres habitaciones

Spanish numbers are quite simple, but, anyway, it will take some time to learn and get used to them. Try to memorize the numbers from 1 to 10 first, and after that we will join them to our sentences.

1 — uno

2 — dos

3 — tres

4 — cuatro

5 — cinco

6 — seis

7 — siete

8 — ocho

9 — nueve

10 — diez

Repeat these numbers a couple of times in consecutive order from 1 to 10, and then in reverse order from 10 to 1.

Try it yourself:

two

four

three

five

seven

nine

six

ten

To insert a number into a sentence, use the verb hay. Talking about quantity, we say how many objects exist somewhere. It’s the job of the verb hay, not estar.

En la cocina hay una silla – There is one chair in the kitchen

En la cocina hay dos sillas – There are two chairs in the kitchen

Try it yourself:

There are five chairs in the kitchen

There are nine photos in the album

There are four cats under the bed

There is one boy in class

Most of the Spanish numerals don’t change. In other words, they don’t have masculine, feminine or plural forms. Uno is an exception. If uno comes before a masculine gender noun, it changes to un. If it comes before a feminine gender noun, it changes to una.

En la mesa hay un libro

En la habitación hay una mesa

Uno is the full form. It’s used independently, when there is no noun after it.

As you can guess, the articles un and una are nothing else but numerals. In some sentences they can be translated as articles, in others as numbers.

En el jardín hay un perro – There is a dog in the garden = There is one dog in the garden

It would be also worth knowing how to say “zero” in Spanish. We are not going to use it to count objects, but you can come across this digit in phone numbers.

0 – cero

¿Cuánto?
How many?

Use cuánto to ask about the quantity of objects.

¿Cuántos chicos hay en la clase? – How many boys are there in class?

¿Cuántas chicas hay en la clase? – How many girls are there in class?

¡Atención! Cuánto should change its ending according to the gender of the noun.

Try it yourself:

How many books are there on the shelf?

How many doors are there in the flat?

How many houses are there on the street?

How many rivers are there in the city?

Uncountable nouns

The question words cuánto and cuánta in singular are used a bit less frequently. You can find them with so-called uncountable nouns.

¿Cuánto dinero hay en el monedero?

¿Cuánta leche hay en la nevera?

¿Cuánta gente hay en la playa?

Uncountable nouns mean objects that don’t need to be split into elements, and they can’t be counted. They should remain singular.

This is a short list of Spanish uncountable nouns:

ropa – cloths (f)

agua – water (f)

leche – milk (f)

pan – bread (m)

sal – salt (f)

azúcar – sugar (m)

gente – people (f)

dinero – money (m)

trabajo – work (m)

Try it yourself:

How much water is there in the glass?

How much bread is there in the cupboard?

How much sugar is there on the table?

How many people are there in the cafe?

Gente (people) is a very special Spanish word, because it’s always feminine and singular. It may sound weird, but in Spanish gente is “she”, not “they”.

Mucho y poco

When the number of objects is quite big, and you don’t want to specify the exact number, use mucho (many, much). This is a simple adjective that is placed before a noun and takes its form.

muchos coches – many cars

muchas flores – many flowers

mucho dinero – much money

mucha gente – many people

Don’t say: mucho coches or muchas gente

¿Cuántos árboles hay en el jardín?

En el jardín hay muchos árboles

¿Cuántas tiendas hay en la ciudad?

En la ciudad hay muchas tiendas

¿Cuánta agua hay en la calle?

En la calle hay mucha agua

Try it yourself:

How many flats are there in the house?

There are many flats in the house

How many t-shirts are there in the wardrobe?

There are many t-shirts in the wardrobe

How many people are there in the park?

There are many people in the park?

The same grammar rules apply to the word poco (few, little).

En el parque hay pocos árboles — There are few trees in the park

En el pueblo hay pocas casas — There are few houses in the village

En el bolsillo hay poco dinero — There is little money in the pocket

En la nevera hay poca comida — There is little food in the fridge

Try it yourself:

There are few chairs in the living room

There are few flats in the house

There is little water in the river

Don’t confuse mucho and muy. Mucho means “many” or “much” and is used with nouns: muchas flores. Muy means “very” and is used with adjectives: muy grande.

Don’t say: La casa es mucho grande

Numbers 11 – 20

Finally, learn the list of Spanish numbers up to 20.

11 — once

12 — doce

13 — trece

14 — catorce

15 — quince

16 — dieciséis

17 — diecisiete

18 — dieciocho

19 — diecinueve

20 — veinte

Try it yourself:

How many houses are there on the street?

There are twelve houses on the street

How many pencils are there in the drawer?

There are fifteen pencils in the drawer

How many trees are there in the garden?

There are seventeen trees in the garden

How many schools are there in the city?

There are twenty schools in the city

Palabras nuevas
New words

cuánto — how many / much

el dinero — the money

la leche — the milk

la gente — the people

el pan — the bread

el azúcar — the sugar

el agua — the water (f)

mucho — many, much

poco — few, little

la comida — the food

un bolsillo — a pocket

una familia — a family

un pueblo — a town, a village

una lengua — a language

una farmacia — a pharmacy

un juego — a game

una palabra — a word

una persona — a person

una peluquería — a hairdresser’s

un peine — a comb

la nieve — the snow

un aeropuerto — an airport

un disco – a disk