Key takeaways
- One to ten in Italian is uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci; zero is zero.
- Tens drop their final vowel before uno and otto, so 21 is ventuno and 28 is ventotto.
- Wiktionary notes numbers ending in 3 from twenty upwards are stressed on the last syllable and written -tré, as in ventitré.
- Mille (1,000) becomes mila in the plural, so 2,000 is duemila; milione and miliardo take di before a noun.
- Italian writes 25.000 for twenty-five thousand and 3,5 for three and a half, read tre virgola cinque.
Italian numbers are built by joining words end to end, so once you know the basic pieces you can say any figure, including a year or a price. Wiktionary's appendix of Italian numbers, the main source here, notes that a cardinal number of any length may be written as one continuous word: 342 is trecentoquarantadue. The catch is a set of small sound changes where the pieces meet. This reference covers counting, the joins, large numbers, ordinals and how figures are written.
Zero to nineteen
| Number | Italian | Number | Italian |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | zero | 10 | dieci |
| 1 | uno | 11 | undici |
| 2 | due | 12 | dodici |
| 3 | tre | 13 | tredici |
| 4 | quattro | 14 | quattordici |
| 5 | cinque | 15 | quindici |
| 6 | sei | 16 | sedici |
| 7 | sette | 17 | diciassette |
| 8 | otto | 18 | diciotto |
| 9 | nove | 19 | diciannove |
Notice where the teens switch. Eleven to sixteen end in -dici; seventeen to nineteen start with dici- instead: diciassette, diciotto, diciannove. The unit comes last from seventeen onwards, as it does in every decade after.
Uno also behaves like the indefinite article when it comes before a noun. Wiktionary gives un espresso, uno scotch and una birra, which follow the same rules covered in Italian articles and gender.
Twenty to ninety-nine, and the dropped vowel
The tens are venti (20), trenta (30), quaranta (40), cinquanta (50), sessanta (60), settanta (70), ottanta (80) and novanta (90). Add a unit straight on: ventidue (22), trentacinque (35), novantanove (99).
Two rules apply at the join.
- Before uno and otto, the ten drops its final vowel. 21 is ventuno, not ventiuno; 28 is ventotto; 41 is quarantuno; 88 is ottantotto. Wiktionary's tables show the same pattern in every decade.
- A final tre takes an accent. Wiktionary notes that numbers ending in 3 from twenty upwards are stressed on the last syllable and written -tré: ventitré, trentatré, sessantatré. Plain tre on its own has no accent.
Cento, mille, mila and milione
| Number | Italian |
|---|---|
| 100 | cento |
| 200 | duecento |
| 1,000 | mille |
| 2,000 | duemila |
| 10,000 | diecimila |
| 100,000 | centomila |
| 1,000,000 | un milione |
| 2,000,000 | due milioni |
| 1,000,000,000 | un miliardo |
Three details matter here. Mille becomes mila in the plural, so 1,000 is mille but 3,000 is tremila. For cento, Wiktionary lists both centouno and centuno for 101, and both centootto and centotto for 108; 180 is centottanta. And milione and miliardo are not adjectives. They are nouns with plurals (milioni, miliardi) and take di before a noun: Wiktionary's example is miliardi di lire.
Wiktionary adds that numbers above a thousand are sometimes written as separate parts, due mila for duemila, especially with large round numbers.
Building three numbers step by step
- 2026: two thousand is duemila, then twenty-six is ventisei. Joined: duemilaventisei.
- 1984: Wiktionary's own example. One thousand (mille) plus nine hundred (novecento) plus eighty-four (ottantaquattro), with the o of cento dropped before ottanta: millenovecentottantaquattro.
- 860,789: Wiktionary notes that numbers above a hundred thousand are often broken into groups of three. Say 860 thousand, ottocentosessantamila, then 789, settecentoottantanove.
As a check on the third, 860 × 1,000 + 789 = 860,789, and 1,000 + 900 + 84 = 1,984.
Ordinals: primo to decimo, then -esimo
The first ten ordinals have their own forms: primo, secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto, sesto, settimo, ottavo, nono, decimo. From eleven on, Wiktionary says, you drop the last vowel of the cardinal and add -esimo: undicesimo (11th), ventesimo (20th), centesimo (100th). A final -tré keeps its e but loses the accent: ventitreesimo.
Ordinals are adjectives, so they agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. Wiktionary also notes that ordinals form fractions (un quarto, tre quarti), that a half is mezzo, and that the days of the month use cardinals: il trenta di maggio. Capitalised hundreds name centuries, so il Trecento means 1301–1400, the 14th century.
Writing figures and saying prices
Italian swaps the English separators. A full stop marks thousands, so 25.000 is twenty-five thousand, and a comma marks decimals, so 3,5 is read tre virgola cinque, "three comma five". Arithmetic uses più (plus), meno (minus), per (times) and diviso (divided by): tre per sette uguale ventuno.
Prices are in euros. Wikipedia notes the lira was Italy's currency until the euro replaced it as a unit of account in 1999, with euro coins and notes following in 2002, and that the euro is divided into 100 cents. Wiktionary records a variant form with e that is common when quoting prices: tremila e seicento dollari, "three thousand six hundred dollars". With this form a following noun stays singular, as in cento e una pagina.
Learning to hear numbers
Recognising a number on a page is a different skill from catching it in speech. Learn Italian for Beginners has a unit that covers numbers, along with audio and dictation exercises. It is one of our language-learning apps. Saying figures aloud also exercises the stress and double consonants in our Italian pronunciation guide, and the beginner's guide to Italian shows where numbers fit in a first month.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How do you count from one to ten in Italian?
Why is 21 ventuno and not ventiuno?
What is the plural of mille in Italian?
Do Italians write decimals with a comma?
Sources
- Appendix:Italian numbers (opens in a new tab)Wiktionary — accessed
- Italian lira (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
- Euro (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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